The PANJARNORTfrWE
FRONTIER PROVINCE
AND KASHMIR
W JAMES DOUIE,MA.KGS'I.
PROVINCIAL GEOGRAPHIES OF INDIA
L
I/'
Provincial Geographies of India
General Editor
Sir T. H. HOLLAND, K.C.I.E., D.Sc, F.R.S.
THE PANJAB, NORTH-WEST
FRONTIER PROVINCE
' AND KASHMIR
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
C. F. CLAY, Manager
ILottiJOn: FETTER LANE, E.G.
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All tights reserz'ed
AX"
THE PANJAB, NORTH-WEST
FRONTIER PROVINCE
AND KASHMIR
BY
SIR JAMES DOUIE, M.A., K.C.S.I.
Cambridge :
at the University Press
19 1 6
EDITOR'S PREFACE
T N his opening chapter Sir James Douie refers to the
-*- fact that the area treated in this volume — just one
quarter of a million square miles — is comparable to that
of Austria-Hungary. The comparison might be extended ;
for on ethnographical, linguistic and physical grounds,
the geographical unit now treated is just as homogeneous
in composition as the Dual Monarchy. It is only in the
political sense and by force of the ruling classes,
temporarily united in one monarch, that the term
Osterreichisch could be used to include the Poles of
Galicia, the Czechs of Bohemia and Moravia, the Szeklers,
Saxons and more numerous Rumanians of Transylvania,
the Croats, Slovenes and Italians of "Illyria," with the
Magyars of the Hungarian plain.
The term Punjabi much more nearly, but still
imperfectly, covers the people of the Panjab, the North-
West Frontier Province, Kashmir and the associated
smaller Native States. The Sikh, Muhammadan and
Hindu Jats, the Kashmiris and the Rajputs all belong
to the tall, fair, leptorrhine Indo-Aryan main stock of
the area, merging on the west and south-west into the
Biluch and Pathan Turko-Iranian, and fringed in the
vi EDITOR'S PREFACE
hill districts on the north with what have been described
as products of the "contact metamorphism " with the
Mongoloid tribes of Central Asia. Thus, in spite of the
inevitable blurring of boundary lines, the political divisions
treated together in this volume, form a fairly clean-cut
geographical unit.
Sir James Douie, in this work, is obviously living
over again the happy thirty-five years which he devoted
to the service of North- West India: his accounts of the
physiography, the flora and fauna, the people and the
administration are essentially the personal recollections
of one who has first studied the details as a District
Officer and has afterwards corrected his perspective,
stage by stage, from the successively higher view-point
of a Commissioner, the Chief Secretary, Financial Com-
missioner, and finally as Officiating Lieut.-Governor. No
one could more appropriately undertake the task of an
accurate and well-proportioned thumb-nail sketch of
North- West India and, what is equally important to the
earnest reader, no author could more obviously delight
in his subject.
T. H. H.
Alderley Edge,
March gth, 1916.
NOTE BY AUTHOR
My thanks are due to the Government of India for
permission to use illustrations contained in official publi-
cations. Except where otherwise stated the numerous
maps included in the volume are derived from this source.
My obligations to provincial and district gazetteers have
been endless. Sir Thomas Holdich kindly allowed me
to reproduce some of the charts in his excellent book
on India. The accuracy of the sections on geology and
coins may be relied on, as they were written by masters
of these subjects, Sir Thomas Holland and Mr R. B.
Whitehead, I.C.S. Chapter xvn could not have been
written at all without the help afforded by Mr Vincent
Smith's Early History of India. I have acknowledged my
debts to other friends in the "List of Illustrations."
J. M. D.
8 May 1916.
CONTENTS
CHAP.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
Areas and Boundaries
Mountains, Hills, and Plains .
Rivers .....
Geology and Mineral Resources
Climate .....
Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees
Forests .....
Beasts, Birds, Fishes, and Insects
The People : Numbers, Races, and
The People : Religions
The People : Education .
Roads and Railways
^•cLriciis . . . . «
Agriculture and Crops
Handicrafts and Manufactures
Exports and Imports
History : Pre-Muhammadan Period
iooo a.d. ....
Languages
500 B.C.
History: Muhammadan Period, 1000 a.d.
1764 a.d. ......
History: Sikh Period, 1764 a.d. -1849 a.d.
History: British Period, 1849 A.D.-1913 a.d.
Archaeology and Coins ....
PAGE
1
8
32
5°
64
71
86
90
96
114
122
127
132
142
152
159
160
168
181
188
200
CONTENTS
CHAP.
XXII. Administration : General
XXIII. Administration: Local
XXIV. Revenue and Expenditure
XXV. Panjab Districts and Delhi
XXVI. The Panjab Native States
XXVII. The Northwest Frontier Province
XXVIII. Kashmir and Jammu
XXIX. Cities
XXX. Other Places of Note
PAGE
212
217
219
224
27I
29I
3M
325
347
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
TABLES
Tribes of Panjab including Native States and of
N.W.F. Province
Rainfall, Cultivation, Population, and
Revenue .....
Agricultural Diagrams
Crops ......
Revenue and Expenditure of Panjab
Index
Land
359
360
362
364
366
367
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
i. Arms of Panjab ....... i
2. Orographical Map (Holdich's India) ... 9
3. Nanga Parvat (Watson's Gazetteer of Hazdra) . 11
4. Burzil Pass (Sir Aurel Stein) ..... 13
5. Rotang Pass (J. Coldstream) . . . . . 15
6. Mt Haramukh (Sir Aurel Stein) .... 16
7. R. Jhelam in Kashmir — View towards Mohand Marg
(Sir Aurel Stein) ...... 18
8. Near Naran in Kagan Glen, Hazara (Watson's
Gazetteer of Hazdra) . . ... . . 19
9. Muztagh-Karakoram and Himalayan Ranges in
Kashmir (Holdich's India). .... 21
10. The Khaibar Road (Holdich's India) ... 23
11. Panjab Rivers (Holdich's India) . • • • 33
12. The Indus at Attock (Sir Aurel Stein) ... 37
13. Indus at Kafirkot, D.I. Khan dt. (Sir Aurel Stein) 38
14. Fording the River at Lahore (E. B. Francis) . 42
15. Bias at Manali (J. Coldstream) .... 44
16. Rainfall of different Seasons (Blanford) . . 62.. 63
17. Average Barometric and Wind Chart for January
(Blanford) 65
18. Average Barometric and Wind Chart for July
(Blanford) 66
19. Banian or Bor trees (Sir Aurel Stein) 75
20. Deodars and Hill Temple (J. Coldstream) . . 80
21. Firs in Himalaya (J. Coldstream) .... 82
22. Chinars (Sir Aurel Stein) ...... 83
23. Rhododendron campanulatum (J. Coldstream) . 84
24. Big Game in Ladakh ...... 92
25. Yaks (J. Coldstream) ...... 93
26. Black Buck ........ 95
27. Map showing density of population {Panjab Census
Report, 191 1) ....... 97
28. Map showing increase and decrease of population
{Panjab Census Report, 191 1) ... 98
29. Map showing density of population in N.W.F.
Province (N.W. Provinces Census Report, 191 1) 99
30. Map showing density of population in Kashmir
{Kashmir Census Report, 191 1) .... 100
31. Jat Sikh Officers (Nand Ram) .... 103
32. Blind Beggar (E. B. Francis) ..... 107
Xll
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG.
33. Dards (Sir Aurel Stein) ......
34. Map showing races (from The People of India,
by Sir Herbert Risley. With permission of
W. Thacker and Co., London)
35. Map showing distribution of languages (Panjdb
Census Report, 191 1)
36. Map showing distribution of religions (Panjdb
Census Report, 191 1)
37. Raghunath Temple, Jammu .
38. Golden Temple, Amritsar (Mrs B. Roe)
39. Mosque in Lahore City (E. B. Francis)
40. God and Goddess, Chamba (H.H. the Raja of
Chamba) .......
41. A Kulu godling and his attendants (J. Coldstream)
42. A School in the time preceding annexation .
43. Poplar lined road to Srinagar (Miss M. B. Douie)
44. Map showing railways .....
45. Map — Older Canals .
46. Map — Canals .......
47. Map of Canals of Peshawar district
48. Persian Wheel Well and Ekka (Sir Aurel Stein)
49. A drove of goats — Lahore (E. B. Francis)
50. A steep bit of hill cultivation, Hazara (Watson's
Gazetteer of Hazdra) .....
51. Preparing rice field in the Hills (J. Coldstream)
52. Carved doorway (Sir Aurel Stein) .
53. Shoemaker's craft (Baden Powell Panjdb Manu
factures) .......
54. Carved windows (Sir Aurel Stein) .
55. Papier mache work of Kashmir (Baden Powell
Panjdb Manufactures)
56. The Potter . .
57. Coin — obverse and reverse of Menander
58. Martand Temple (Miss Griffiths) .
59. Baba Nanak and the Musician Mardana
60 Guru Govind Singh
61. Maharaja Ranjit Singh .
62. Maharaja Kharak Singh .
63. Nao Nihal Singh
64. Maharaja Sher Singh
65. Zamzama Gun (E. B. Francis
66. Sir John Lawrence (from picture in National Portrait
Gallery) .......
67. John Nicholson's Monument at Delhi (Lady Douie)
68. Sir Robert Montgomery ....
69. Panjab Camels at Lahore (E. B. Francis)
70. Sir Charles Aitchison (Bourne and Shepherd)
71. Sir Denzil Ibbetson (Albert Jenkins)
72. Sir Michael O'Dwyer (R. Ramlal Bhairulal and Son)
PAGE
108
109
in
115
116
117
118
120
121
124
128
129
J34
J37
141
143
144
146
J47
!5i
153
*55
156
I-57
163
166
174
176
182
185
185
185
187
189
190
191
193
194
198
199
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
xm
FIG.
73-
74-
75-
76.
77-
78.
79-
80.
81.
82.
83-
84.
85-
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
93-
94.
95-
96.
97-
98.
99-
100.
101.
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
108.
109.
no.
III.
112.
"3-
114.
«5-
116.
117.
118.
119.
Group of Chamba Temples (H.H. the Raja of Chamba)
Payer Temple — Kashmir (Sir Aurel Stein)
Reliquary (Government of India) .
Colonnade in Kuwwat ul Islam Mosque
Kutb Minar (Miss M. B. Douie)
Tomb of Emperor Tughlak Shah (Miss M. 3. Douie
Jama Masjid, Delhi
Tomb of Humayun (Miss M. B. Douie)
Badshahf Mosque, Lahore (E. B. Francis)
Coins
Skeleton District Map of Panjab .
Delhi Enclave ....
Hissar district with portions of the Phulkian States
etc. ......
Rohtak district ....
Gurgaon district ....
Karnal district ....
Ambala district with Kalsia .
Kangra district ....
Bias at Manali (J. Coldstream)
Religious Fair in Kulu (J. Coldstream)
Kulu Women (J. Coldstream)
Hoshyarpur district
Jalandhar district and Kapurthala
Ludhiana district and adjoining Native States
Ferozepore district and Faridkot .
Gurdaspur district ....
Sialkot district ....
Gujranwala district ....
Amritsar district ....
Lahore district ....
Gujrat district ....
Jhelam district ....
Rawalpindi district
Shop in Murree Bazar (Lady Douie)
Attock district ....
Mianwali district ....
Shahpur district ....
Montgomery district
Lyallpur district ....
Jhang district ....
Multan district ....
Muzaffargarh district
Dera Ghazi Khan district
Maharaja of Patiala (C. Vandyk) .
Maharaja of Jfnd ....
Maharaja Sir Hira Singh of Nabha (Bourne and
Shepherd) ....
Maharaja of Kapurthala
PAGE
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
207
208
210
223
225
226
228
230
231
233
235
237
238
239
240
242
243
244
246
247
248
250
251
252
254
255
256
257
259
261
263
264
265
266
268
269
272
277
278
279
XIV
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG.
120.
121.
122.
123.
I24.
125-
126.
I27.
128.
129.
130.
I3I-
132.
133-
134-
135-
136.
137-
138.
139-
140.
141.
142.
143-
144.
145-
146.
147.
148.
149.
150.
Raja of Faridkot (Julian Rust)
Nawab of Bahawalpur .....
Native States of Chamba, Mandi, Suket, Bilaspur
Raja Surindar Bikram Parkash of Sirmur
Raja of Chamba (F. Bremner)
Bashahr (Sketch Map by H. W. Emerson)
Sir Harold Deane (F. Bremner)
North-west Frontier Province
Dera Ismail Khan district
Bannu district
Kohat district
Peshawar district
Hazara district
Sir George Roos Keppel (Maull and Fox)
Tribal Territory north of Peshawar
Tribal Territory to west of N.W.F. Province
Khaibar Rifles .....
North Waziristan Militia and Border Post
Maharaja of Kashmir ....
Jammu and Kashmir ....
Takht i Suliman in Winter (Sir Aurel Stein)
Ladakh Hills (Mrs Wynyard Brown)
Zojila Pass (Mrs Wynyard Brown)
Delhi Mutiny Monument
Kashmir Gate, Delhi
Map of Delhi City .
Darbar Medal
Street in Lahore (E. B. Francis)
Shahdara ....
Trans-border traders in Peshawar
Mosque of Shah Hamadan (F. Bremner)
PAGE
280
281
284
285
287
289
292
293
294
295
297
298
300
303
304
308
310
313
315
316
3i8
320
322
327
328
329
334
336
338
343
345
Map of territories of Maharaja of Jammu and
Kashmir . . . . .at end of volume
Map of Panjab .....,,
J>
CHAPTER I
AREAS AND BOUNDARIES
Introductory. — Of the provinces of India the Panjab
must always have a peculiar interest for Englishmen.
Invasions by land from the west
have perforce been launched
across its great plains. The
English were the first invaders
who, possessing sea power, were
able to outflank the mountain
ranges which guard the north
and west of India. Hence the
Panjab was the last, and not
the first, of their Indian con-
quests, and the courage and
efficiency of the Sikh soldiery,
even after the guiding hand of
the old Maharaja Ran jit Singh was withdrawn, made
it also one of the hardest. The success of the early
administration of the province, which a few years after
annexation made it possible to use its resources in
fighting men to help in the task of putting down the
mutiny, has always been a matter of just pride, while
the less familiar story of the conquests of peace in
the first sixty years of British rule may well arouse
similar feelings.
Scope of work. — A geography of the Panjab will
fitly embrace an account also of the North West Frontier
Fig. i. Arms of Panjab.
D. P.
2 AREAS AND BOUNDARIES [ch.
Province, which in 1901 was severed from it and formed
into a separate administration, of the small area recently
placed directly under the government of India on the
transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, and of
the native states in political dependence on the Panjab
Government. It will also be convenient to include
Kashmir and the tribal territory beyond the frontier
of British India which is politically controlled from
Peshawar. The whole tract covers ten degrees of latitude
and eleven of longitude. The furthest point of the.
Kashmir frontier is in 370 2' N., which is much the same
as the latitude of Syracuse. In the south-east the Panjab
ends at 270 4' N., corresponding roughly to the position
of the southernmost of the Canary Islands. Lines
drawn west from Peshawar and Lahore would pass to
the north of Beirut and Jerusalem respectively. Multan
and Cairo are in the same latitude, and so are Delhi
and Teneriffe. Kashmir stretches eastwards to longitude
8o° 3' and the westernmost part of Waziristan is in
690 2' E.
Distribution of Area. — The area dealt with is roughly
253,000 square miles. This is but two-thirteenths of
the area of the Indian Empire, and yet it is less by only
10,000 square miles than that of Austria-Hungary
including Bosnia and Herzegovina. The area consists
of:
sq. miles
(1) The Panjab 97,000
(2) Native States dependent on Panjab Government . . 36,500
(3) Kashmir 81,000
(4) North West Frontier Province 13.000
(5) Tribal territory under the political control of the Chief
Commissioner of North West Frontier Province, roughly 25,500
Approximately 136,000 square miles may be classed
as highlands and 117,000 as plains, and these may be
distributed as follows over the above divisions :
ij AREAS AND BOUNDARIES
Highlands
Plains
sq. miles
sq. miles
(I)
Pan jab, British
11,000
86,000
(2)
Panjab, Native States
12,000
24,500
(3)
Kashmir
81,000
—
(4)
North West Frontier Province
6,500
6,500
(5)
Tribal Territory
• 25,500
On the north the highlands include the Himalayan
and sub-Himalayan (Siwalik) tracts to the south and east
of the Indus, and north of that river the Muztagh-Rara-
koram range and the bleak salt plateau beyond that
range reaching almost up to the Kuenlun mountains.
To the west of the Indus they include those spurs of the
Hindu Rush which run into Chitral and Dir, the Buner
and Swat hills, the Safed Roh, the Waziristan hills,
the Suliman range, and the low hills in the trans-Indus
districts of the North West Frontier Province.
Boundary with China. — There is a point to the north
of Hunza in Rashmir where three great mountain chains,
the Muztagh from the south-east, the Hindu Rush from
the south-west, and the Sarikol (an offshoot of the Ruenlun)
from the north-east, meet. It is also the meeting-place
of the Indian, Chinese, and Russian empires and of
Afghanistan. Westwards from this the boundary of
Rashmir and Chinese Turkestan runs for 350 miles
(omitting curves) through a desolate upland lying well
to the north of the Muztagh-Rarakoram range. Finally
in the north-east corner of Rashmir the frontier impinges
on the great Central Asian axis of the Ruenlun. From
this point it turns southwards and separates Chinese
Tibet from the salt Lingzi Thang plains and the Indus
valley in Rashmir, and the eastern part of the native
state of Bashahr, which physically form a portion of Tibet.
Boundary with United Provinces. — The south-east
corner of Bashahr is a little to the north of the great
Redarnath peak in the Central Himalaya and of the
4 AREAS AND BOUNDARIES [ch.
source of the Jamna. Here the frontier strikes to the
west dividing Bashahr from Teri Garhwal, a native
state under the control of the government of the United
Provinces. Turning again to the south it runs to the
junction of the Tons and Jamna, separating Teri Garhwal
from Sirmur and some of the smaller Simla Hill States.
Henceforth the Jamna is with small exceptions the
boundary between the Panjab and the United Provinces.
Boundary with Afghanistan. — We must now^ return
to our starting-point at the eastern extremity of the
Hindu Kush, and trace the boundary with Afghanistan.
The frontier runs west and south-west along the Hindu
Kush to the Dorah pass dividing Chitral from the Afghan
province of Wakhan, and streams which drain into the
Indus from the head waters of the Oxus. At the Dorah
pass it turns sharply to the south, following a great spur
which parts the valley of the Chitral river (British)
from that of its Afghan affluent, the Bashgol. Below
the junction of the two streams at Arnawai the Chitral
changes its name and becomes the Kunar. Near this
point the " Durand " line begins. In 1893 an agreement
was made between the Amir Abdurrahman and Sir
Mortimer Durand as representative of the British Govern-
ment determining the frontier line from Chandak in
the valley of the Kunar, twelve miles north of Asmar,
to the Persian border. Asmar is an Afghan village
on the left bank of the Kunar to the south of Arnawai.
In 1894 the line was demarcated along the eastern water-
shed of the Kunar valley to Nawakotal on the confines
of Bajaur and the country of the Mohmands.
Thence the frontier, which has not been demarcated,
passes through the heart of the Mohmand country to
the Kabul river and beyond it to our frontier post in
the Khaibar at Landikhana.
From this point the line, still undemarcated, runs
i] AREAS AND BOUNDARIES 5
on in a south-westerly direction to the Safed Koh, and
then strikes west along it to the Sikaram mountain
near the Paiwar Kotal at the head of the Kurram valley.
From Sikaram the frontier runs south and south-east
crossing the upper waters of the Kurram, and dividing
our possessions from the Afghan province of Khost.
This line was demarcated in 1894.
At the south of the Kurram valley the frontier sweeps
round to the west leaving in the British sphere the valley
of the Tochi. Turning again to the south it crosses the
upper waters of the Tochi and passes round the back
of Waziristan by the Shawal valley and the plains about
Wana to Domandi on the Gomal river, where Afghanistan,
Biluchistan, and the North West Frontier Province meet.
The Waziristan boundary was demarcated in 1895.
Political and Administrative Boundaries. — The boun-
dary described above defines spheres of influence, and
only in the Kurram valley does it coincide with that
of the districts for whose orderly administration we
hold ourselves responsible. All we ask of Wazirs,
Afridis, or Mohmands is to leave our people at peace ;
we have no concern with their quarrels or blood feuds,
so long as they abide in their mountains or only leave
them for the sake of lawful gain. Our administrative
boundary, which speaking broadly we took over from
the Sikhs, usually runs at the foot of the hills. A glance
at the map will show that between Peshawar and Kohat
the territory of the independent tribes comes down almost
to the Indus. At this point the hills occupied by the
Jowaki section of the Afridi tribe push out a great tongue
eastwards. Our military frontier road runs through
these hills, and we actually pay the tribesmen of the
Kohat pass for our right of way. Another tongue of tribal
territory reaches right down to the Indus, and almost
severs the Peshawar and Hazara districts. Further
6 AREAS AND BOUNDARIES [ch.
north the frontier of Hazara lies well to the east of the
Indus.
Frontier with Biluchistan. — At Domandi the frontier
turns to the east, and following the Gomal river to its
junction'with the Zhob at Kajuri Kach forms the boundary
of the two British administrations. Henceforth the
general direction of the line is determined by the trend
of the Suliman range. It runs south to the Vehoa pass,
where the country of the Pathans of the North West
Frontier Province ends and that of the Hill and Plain
Biluches subject to the Panjab Government begins.
From the Vehoa pass to the Kaha torrent the line is
drawn so as to leave Biluch tribes with the Panjab and
Pathan tribes with the Biluchistan Agency. South of
the Kaha the division is between Biluch tribes, the
Marris and Bugtis to the west being managed from
Quetta, and the Gurchanis and Mazaris, who are largely
settled in the plains, being included in Dera Ghazi
Khan, the trans-Indus district of the Panjab. At the
south-west corner of the Dera Ghazi Khan district the
Panjab, Sind, and Biluchistan meet. From this point
the short common boundary of the Panjab and Sind
runs east to the Indus.
The Southern Boundary. — East of the Indus the
frontier runs south-east for about fifty miles parting
Sind from the Bahawalpur State, till a point is reached
where Sind, Rajputana, and Bahawalpur join. A little
further to the east is the southern extremity of Bahawalpur
at 700 8' E. and 270 5' N. From this point a line drawn
due east would at a distance of 370 miles pass a few
miles to the north of the south end of Gurgaon and a
few miles to the south of the border of the Narnaul tract
of Patiala. Between Narnaul and the south-east corner
of the Bahawalpur State the great Rajputana desert,
mainly occupied in this quarter by Bikaner, thrusts
i] AREAS AND BOUNDARIES 7
northwards a huge wedge reaching almost up to the
Sutlej . To the west of the wedge is Bahawalpur and to
the east the British district of Hissar. The apex is less
than 100 miles from Lahore, while a line drawn due
south from that city to latitude 27' 50 north would exceed
270 miles in length. The Jaipur State lies to the south
and west of Narnaul, while Gurgaon has across its southern
frontiers Alwar and Bharatpur, and near the Jamna
the Muttra district of the United Provinces.
CHAPTER II
MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS
The Great Northern Rampart. — The huge mountain
rampart which guards the northern frontier of India
thrusts out in the north-west a great bastion whose
outer walls are the Hindu Kush and the Muztagh-Kara-
koram ranges. Behind the latter with a general trend
from south-east to north-west are the great valley of
the Indus to the point near Gilgit where it turns sharply
to the south, and a succession of mountain chains and
glens making up the Himalayan tract, through which
the five rivers of the Pan jab and the Jamna find their
way to the plains. To meet trans-Indus extensions
of the Himalaya the Hindu Kush pushes out from its
main axis great spurs to the south, flanking the valleys
which drain into the Indus either directly or through the
Kabul river.
The Himalaya. — Tibet, which from the point of view
of physical geography includes a large and little known
area in the Kashmir State to the north of the Karakoram
range, is a lofty, desolate, wind swept plateau with
a mean elevation of about 15,000 feet. In the part of
it situated to the north of the north-west corner of Nipal
lies the Manasarowar lake, in the neighbourhood of which
three great Indian rivers, the Tsanpo or Brahmaputra,
the Sutlej, and the Indus, take their rise. The Indus
flows to the north-west for 500 miles and then turns
abruptly to the south to seek its distant home in the
ch. ii] MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS 9
Indian Ocean. The Tsanpo has a still longer course
of 800 miles eastwards before it too bends southwards
to flow through Assam into the Bay of Bengal. Between
the points where these two giant rivers change their
direction there extends for a distance of 1500 miles the
Fig. 2. Orographical Map.
vast congeries of mountain ranges known collectively
as the " Himalaya " or " Abode of Snow." As a matter
of convenience the name is sometimes confined to the
mountains east of the Indus, but geologically the hills
of Buner and Swat to the north of Peshawar probably
belong to the same system. In Sanskrit literature the
io MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch. n
Himalaya is also known as ' Himavata," whence the
classical Emodus.
The Kumaon Himalaya. — The Himalaya may be
divided longitudinally into three sections, the eastern
or Sikkim, the mid or Kumaon, and the north-western
or Ladakh. With the first we are not concerned. The
Kumaon section lies mainly in the United Provinces,
but it includes the sources of the Jamna, and contains
the chain in the Pan jab which is at once the southern
watershed of the Sutlej and the great divide between
the two river systems of Northern India, the Gangetic
draining into the Bay of Bengal, and the Indus carrying
the enormous discharge of the north-west Himalaya,
the Muztagh-Karakoram, and the Hindu Kush ranges
into the Indian Ocean. Simla stands on the south-
western end of this watershed, and below it the Himalaya
drops rapidly to the Siwalik foot-hills and to the plains.
Jakko, the deoddr-c\a.d hill round which so much of
the life of the summer capital of India revolves, attains
a height of 8000 feet. The highest peak within a radius
of 25 miles of Simla is the Chor, which is over 12,000
feet high, and does not lose its snow cap till May. Hattu,
the well-known hill above Narkanda, which is 40 miles
from Simla by road, is 1000 feet lower. But further
west in Bashahr the higher peaks range from 16,000
to 22,000 feet.
The Inner Himalaya or Zanskar Range. — The division
of the Himalaya into the three sections named above
is convenient for descriptive purposes. But its chief
axis runs through all the sections. East of Nipal it
strikes into Tibet not very far from the source of the
Tsanpo, is soon pierced by the gorge of the Sutlej, and
beyond it forms the southern watershed of the huge
Indus valley. In the west this great rampart is known
as the Zanskar range. For a short distance it is the
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12 MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch.
boundary between the Pan jab and Kashmir, separating
two outlying portions of the Kangra district, Lahul
and Spiti, from Ladakh. In this section the peaks
are from 19,000 to 21,000 feet high, and the Baralacha
pass on the road from the Kulu valley in Kangra to Leh,
the capital of Ladakh, is at an elevation of about 16,500
feet. In Kashmir the Zanskar or Inner Himalaya
divides the valley of the Indus from those of the Chenab
and Jhelam. It has no mountain to dispute supremacy
with Everest (29,000 feet), or Kinchinjunga in the Eastern
Himalaya, but the inferiority is only relative. The twin
peaks called Nun and Kun to the east of Srinagar exceed
23,000 feet, and in the extreme north-west the grand
mountain mass of Nanga Parvat towers above the Indus
to a height of 26,182 feet. The lowest point in the
chain is the Zojila (11,300 feet) on the route from Srinagar,
the capital of Kashmir, to Leh on the Indus
The road from Srinagar to Gilgit passes over the
Burzil pass at an elevation of 13,500 feet.
The Zojila is at the top of the beautiful valley of
the Sind river, a tributary of the Jhelam. The lofty
Zanskar range blocks the inward flow of the monsoon,
and once the Zojila is crossed the aspect of the country
entirely changes. The land of forest glades and green
pastures is left behind, and a region of naked and desolate
grandeur begins.
"The waste of snow.... is the frontier of barren
Tibet, where sandy wastes replace verdant meadows,
and where the wild ridges, jutting up against the sky,
are kept bare of vegetation, their strata crumbling
under the destructive action of frost and water, leaving
bare ribs of gaunt and often fantastic outline The
colouring of the mountains is remarkable throughout
Ladakh and nowhere more so than near the Fotula
(a pass on the road to Leh to the south of the Indus
H]
MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS
13
gorge) .... As we ascend the peaks suggest organ pipes,
so vertical are the ridges, so jagged the ascending out-
lines. And each pipe is painted a different colour....
pale slate green, purple, yellow, grey, orange, and choco-
late, each colour corresponding with a layer of the slate,
shale, limestone, or trap strata " (Neve's Picturesque
Kashmir, pp. 108 and 117).
Fig. 4. Burzil Pass.
In all this desolation there are tiny oases where level
soil and a supply of river water permit of cultivation
and of some tree growth.
Water divide near Baralacha and Rotang Passes in
Kulu. — We have seen that the Indus and its greatest
tributary, the Sutlej, rise beyond the Himalaya in the
14 MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch. n
Tibetan plateau. The next great water divide is in the
neighbourhood of the Baralacha pass and the Rotang
pass, 30 miles to the south of it. The route from Simla
to Leh runs at a general level of 7000 to 9000 feet along
or near the Sutlej-Jamna watershed to Narkanda (8800
feet). Here it leaves the Hindustan-Tibet road and
drops rapidly into the Sutlej gorge, where the Lurf
bridge is only 2650 feet above sea level. Rising steeply
on the other side the Jalauri pass on the Watershed
between the Sutlej and the Bias is crossed at an elevation
of 10,800 feet. A more gradual descent brings the
traveller to the Bias at Larji, 3080 feet above sea level.
The route then follows the course of the Bias through
the beautiful Kulu valley to the Rotang pass (13,326
feet), near which the river rises. The upper part of
the valley is flanked on the west by the short, but very
lofty Bara Bangahal range, dividing Kulu from Kangra
and the source of the Bias from that of the Ravi. Beyond
the Rotang is Lahul, which is divided by a watershed
from Spiti and the torrents which drain into the Sutlej.
On the western side of this watershed are the sources
of the Chandra and Bhaga, which unite to form the
river known in the plains as the Chenab.
Mid Himalaya or Pangi Range. — The Mid Himalayan
or Pangi range, striking west from the Rotang pass
and the northern end of the Bara Bangahal chain, passes
through the heart of Chamba dividing the valley of
the Chenab (Pangi) from that of the Ravi. After entering
Kashmir it crosses the Chenab near the Kolahoi cone
(17,900 feet) and the head waters of the Jhelam. Thence
it continues west over Haramukh (16,900 feet), which
casts its shadow southwards on the Wular lake, to the
valley of the Kishnganga, and probably across it to the
mountains which flank the magnificent Kagan glen in
Hazara.
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i6
MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch.
Outer Himalaya or Dhauladhar-Pir Panjal Range. —
The Outer Himalaya also starts from a point near the
Rotang pass, but some way to the south of the offset
of the Mid Himalayan chain. Its main axis runs parallel
to the latter, and under the name of the Dhauladhar
(white ridge) forms the boundary of the Chamba State
and Kangra, behind whose headquarters at Dharmsala
it stands up like a huge wall. It has a mean elevation
Fig. 6. Mt Haramukh.
of 15,000 feet, but rises as high as 16,000. It passes
from Chamba into Bhadarwah in Kashmir, and crossing
the Chenab is carried on as the Pir Panjal range through
the south of that State. With an elevation of only
14,000 or 15,000 feet it is a dwarf as compared with
the giants of the Inner Himalayan and Muztagh-Kara-
koram chains. But it hides them from the dwellers
in the Panjab, and its snowy crest is a very striking
ii] MOUNTAINS, HILLS AND PLAINS 17
picture as seen in the cold weather from the plains of
Rawalpindi, Jhelam, and Gujrat. The Outer Himalaya
is continued beyond the gorges of the jhelam and Kishn-
ganga rivers in Kajnag and the hills of the Hazara
district. Near the eastern extremity of the Dhauladhar
section of the Outer Himalaya it sends out southwards
between Kulu and Mandi a lower offshoot. This is
crossed by the Babbu (9480 feet) and Dulchi passes,
connecting Kulu with Kangra through Mandi. Geologi-
cally the Kulu-Mandi range appears to be continued
to the east of the Bias and across the Sutlej over Hattu
and the Chor to the hills near Masuri (Mussoorie), a well-
known hill station in the United Provinces. Another
offshoot at the western end of the Dhauladhar passes
through the beautiful hill station of Dalhousie, and sinks
into the low hills to the east of the Ravi, where it leaves
Chamba and enters the British district of Gurdaspur.
River Valleys and Passes in the Himalaya. — While
these principal chains can be traced from south-east
to north-west over hundreds of miles it must be remem-
bered that the Himalaya is a mountain mass from 150
to 200 miles broad, that the main axes are linked together
by subsidiary cross chains dividing the head waters
of great rivers, and flanked by long and lofty ridges
running down at various angles to the gorges of these
streams and their tributaries. The typical Himalayan
river runs in a gorge with mountains dipping down
pretty steeply to its sides. The lower slopes are cultivated,
but the land is usually stony and uneven, and as a whole
the crops are not of a high class. The open valleys
of the Jhelam in Kashmir and of the Bias in Kulu are
exceptions. Passes in the Himalaya are not defiles
between high cliffs, but cross the crest of a ridge at a
point where the chain is locally depressed, and snow
melts soonest. In the Outer and Mid Himalaya the line
D. P.
18 MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch. n
of perpetual snow is at about 16,000 feet, but for six
months of the year the snow-line comes down 5000 feet
lower. In the Inner Himalaya and the Muztagh-Karako-
ram, to which the monsoon does not penetrate, the air
is so dry that less snow falls and the line is a good deal
higher.
Himalayan Scenery. — Certain things strike any ob-
servant traveller in the Himalaya. One is the compara-
tive absence of running or still water, except in the
Fig. 7. R. Jhelam in Kashmir — View towards Mohand Marg.
height of the rainy season, away from the large rivers.
The slope is so rapid that ordinary falls of rain run off
with great rapidity. The mountain scenery is often
magnificent and the forests are beautiful, but the absence
of water robs the landscape of a charm which would
make it really perfect. Where this too is present, as
in the valley of the Bias in Kulu and those of the Jhelam
and its tributaries in Kashmir and Hazara, the eye has
Fig. 8. Near Naran in Kagan Glen, Hazara.
2 — 2
20 MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch.
its full fruition of content. Another is the silence of
the forests. Bird and beast are there, but they are little
in evidence. A third feature which can hardly be missed
is the contrast between the northern and the southern
slopes. The former will often be clothed with forest
while the latter is a bare stony slope covered according
to season with brown or green grass interspersed with
bushes of indigo, barberry, or the hog plum (Prinsepia
utilis). The reason is that the northern side enjoys
much more shade, snow lies longer, and the supply of
moisture is therefore greater. The grazier for the same
reason is less tempted to fire the hill side in order to
promote the growth of grass, a practice which is fatal
to all forest growth. The rich and varied flora of the
Himalaya will be referred to later.
Muztagh-Karakoram Ranges.— The Muztagh-Karako-
ram mountains form the northern watershed of the Indus.
The range consists of more than one main axis. The
name Karakoram is appropriated t.o the eastern part
of the system which originates at E. longitude 790 near
the Pangong lake in the Tibetan plateau a little beyond
the boundary of Kashmir. Beyond the Karakoram pass
(18,550 ft.) is a lofty bleak upland with salt lakes dotted
over its surface. Through this inhospitable region and
over the Karakoram pass and the Sasser-la (17,500 ft.)
the trade route from Yarkand to Leh runs. The road
is only open for three months in the year, and the dangers
and hardships are great. In 1898 Dr Bullock Workman
and his wife marched along it across the Shyok river,
up the valley of the Nubra, and over the Sasser-la to
the Karakoram pass. The scenery is an exaggeration
of that described by Dr Neve as seen on the road from
the Zoji-la to Leh. There is a powerful picture of its
weird repellent grandeur in the Workmans' book entitled
In the Ice World of Himalaya (pp. 28-29, 30_32)- The
II]
MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS
21
poet who had found ideas for a new Paradiso in the Vale
of Kashmir might here get suggestions for a new Inferno.
The Karakoram range culminates in the north-west
near the Muztagh pass in a group of majestic peaks
including K 2 or Mount Godwin Austen (28,265 feet),
firin Austen
IOO MILES
Fig. 9. Muztagh-Karakoram and Himalayan Ranges in Kashmir.
Gasherbrum, and Masherbrum, which tower over and
feed the vast Boltoro glacier. The first of these giants
is the second largest mountain in the world. The Duke
of the Abruzzi ascended it to the height of 24,600 feet,
and so established a climbing record. The Muztagh
chain carries on the northern bastion to the valley of
22 MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch.
the Hunza river and the western extremity of the Hindu
Kush. It has several peaks exceeding 25,000 feet. The
most famous is Rakiposhi which looks down on Hunza
from a height of 25,550 feet.
The Hindu Kush. — The Muztagh chain from the
south-east, the Sarikol from the north-east, and the
Hindu Kush from the south-west, meet at a point to
the north of Hunza. The last runs westward and
south-westward for about 200 miles to the Dorah pass
(14,800 feet), separating the valleys which drain into
the Indus from the head waters of the Oxus, and Hunza
and Gilgit in Kashmir and Chitral in British India from
the Afghan province of Wakhan. The highest point in
the main axis, Sad Istragh (24,171 feet), is in this section.
But the finest mountain scenery in the Hindu Kush is
in the great spurs it thrusts out southwards to flank
the glens which feed the Gilgit and Chitral rivers. Tirach
Mir towers above Chitral to a height of 25,426 feet.
From Tibet to the Dorah pass the northern frontier
of India is impregnable. It is pierced by one or two
difficult trade routes strewn with the bones of pack
animals, but no large army has ever marched across
it for the invasion of India. West of the Dorah pass
the general level of the Hindu Kush is a good deal lower
than that of its eastern section. The vital point in the
defences of India in this quarter lies near Charikar to
the north of Kabul, where the chain thins out, and three
practicable passes debouch on the valley of the Kabul
river. It is this fact that gives the town of Kabul its
great strategic importance. The highest of the three
passes, the Kaoshan or Hindu Kush (dead Hindu),
crosses the chain at an elevation of 14,340 feet. It took
its own name from the fate that befel a Hindu army
when attempting to cross it, and has handed it on to the
whole range. It is the pass which the armies of Alexander
II]
MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS
23
and Babar used. The historical road for the invasion
of India on this side has been by Charikar and the valley
of the Kabul river to its junction with the Kunar below
Jalalabad, thence up the Kunar valley and over one of
the practicable passes which connect its eastern watershed
with the Panjkora and Swat river valleys, whence the
descent on Peshawar is easy. This is the route by which
Alexander led the wing of the Grecian army which he
commanded in person, and the one followed by Babar
in 1518-19. Like Alexander, Babar fought his way
through Bajaur, and crossed the Indus above Attock.
Kohat
100 Milea
Fig. 10. The Khaibar Road.
The Khaibar. — A British force advancing on Kabul
from Peshawar has never marched by the Kunar and
Kabul valley route. It has always taken the Khaibar
road, which only follows the Kabul river for less than
one-third of the 170 miles which separate Peshawar from
the Amir's capital. The military road from Peshawar
to Landikhana lies far to the south of the river, from
which it is shut off by difficult and rugged country
held by the Mohmands.
24 MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch.
Safed Koh. — From Landikhana the political boundary
runs south-west to the Safed Koh (white mountain)
and is continued westwards along that range to the
Paiwar Kotal or pass (8450 feet). The Safed Koh forms
the watershed of the Kabul and Kurram rivers. It
is a fine pine clad chain with a general level of 12,000
feet, and its skyline is rarely free from snow. It culmi-
nates in the west near Paiwar Kotal in Sikaram (15,620
feet). To the west of the Peshawar and Kohat districts is
a tangle of hills and valleys formed by outlying spurs of
the Safed Koh. This difficult country is in the occupation
of Afridis and Orakzais, who are under our political control.
The Kurram Valley. — The line of advance into
Afghanistan through the Kurram valley is easy, and
Lord Roberts used it when he marched towards Kabul
in 1898. After the war we annexed the valley, leaving
however the head waters of the Kurram in Afghan
terrrtory. The road to Kabul leaves the river far to
the south before it crosses our frontier at Paiwar Kotal.
Waziristan Hills. — Between the Kurram valley and
the Gomal river is a large block of very rough mountainous
country known as Waziristan from the turbulent clan
which occupies it. In the north it is drained by the
Tochi. Westwards of the Tochi valley the country
rises into lofty mountains. The upper waters of the
Tochi and its affluents drain two fine glens known as
Birmal and Shawal to the west of the country of the
Mahsud Wazirs. The Tochi valley is the direct route
from India to Ghazni, and nine centuries ago, when that
decayed town was the capital of a powerful kingdom,
it must often have heard the tramp of armed men. The
loftiest peaks in Waziristan, Shuidar (11,000 feet) and
Pirghal (11,600 feet), overhang Birmal. Further south,
Wana, our post in south-west Waziristan, overlooks from
its plateau the Gomal valley.
ii] MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS 25
The Gomal Pass as a trade route. — East of Kajuri
Kach the Gomal flows through tribal territory to the
Gomal pass from which it debouches into the plains
of the Dera Ismail Khan district ' The Gomal route
is the oldest of all trade routes. Down it there yearly
pours a succession of kdfdas (caravans) led and followed
up by thousands of well-armed Pathan traders, called
Powindahs, from the plains of Afghanistan to India.
The Powindahs mostly belong to the Ghilzai tribes,
and are not therefore true Afghans1. Leaving their
women and children encamped within British territory
on our border, and their arms in the keeping of our
frontier political officials, the Powindah makes his way
southwards with his camel loads of fruit and silk, bales
of camel and goat hair or sheepskin goods, carpets and
other merchandise from Kabul and Bokhara, and conveys
himself through the length and breadth of the Indian
peninsula .... He returns yearly to the cool summits
of the Afghan hills and the open grassy plains, where
his countless flocks of sheep and camels are scattered
for the summer grazing" (Holdich's India, pp. 80-81).
Physical features of hilly country between Peshawar
and the Gomal river. — The physical features of the hill
country between Peshawar and the Gomal pass may
best be described in the words of Sir Thomas Holdich :
" Natural landscape beauty, indeed, may here be
measured to a certain extent by altitude. The low ranges
of sun-scorched, blackened ridge and furrow formation
which form the approaches to the higher altitudes of
the Afghan upland, and which are almost as regularly
laid out by the hand of nature in some parts of the
frontier as are the parallels .... of the engineer who is
besieging a fortress — these are by no means ' things of
beauty,' and it is this class of formation and this form
1 They are held to be of Turkish origin.
26 MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch.
of barren desolation that is most familiar to the frontier
officer .... Shades of delicate purple and grey will not
make up for the absence of the living green of vegetation
.... But with higher altitudes a cooler climate and
snow-fed soil is found, and as soon as vegetation grasps
a root-hold there is the beginning of line scenery. The
upper pine-covered slopes of the Safed Koh are as pic-
turesque as those of the Swiss Alps ; they are crowned
by peaks whose wonderful altitudes are frozen beyond
the possibility of vegetation, and are usually covered
with snow wherever snow can lie. In Waziristan, hidden
away in the higher recesses of its great mountains, are
many valleys of great natural beauty, where we find
the spreading poplar and the ilex in all the robust growth
of an indigenous flora .... Among the minor valleys
Birmal perhaps takes precedence by right of its natural
beauty. Here are stretches of park-like scenery where
grass-covered slopes are dotted with clumps of deodar
and pine and intersected with rivulets hidden in banks
of fern ; soft green glades open out to view from every
turn in the folds of the hills, and above them the silent
watch towers of Pirghal and Shuidar . . . . look down
from their snow-clad heights across the Afghan uplands
to the hills beyond Ghazni." (Holdich's India, pp. 81-82.)
The Suliman Range. — A well-marked mountain chain
runs from the Gomal to the extreme south-west corner
of the Dera Ghazi Khan district where the borders of
Biluchistan, Sind, and the Panjab meet. It culminates
forty miles south of the Gomal in the fine Kaisargarh
mountain (11,295 feet), which is a very conspicuous
object from the plains of the Dera j at. On the side of
Kaisargarh there is a shrine called Takht i Suliman or
Throne of Solomon, and this is the name by which English-
men usually know the mountain, and which has been
passed on to the whole range. Proceeding southwards
ii] MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS 27
the general elevation of the chain drops steadily. But
Fort Munro, the hill station of the Dera Ghazi Khan
district, 200 miles south of the Takht, still stands 6300
feet above sea level, and it looks across at the fine peak
of Ekbhai, which is more than 1000 feet higher. In the
south of the Dera Ghazi Khan district the general level
of the chain is low, and the Giandari hill, though only
4160 feet above the sea, stands out conspicuously. Finally
near where the three jurisdictions meet the hills melt
into the Kachh Gandava plain. Sir Thomas Holdich's
description of the rugged Pathan hills applies also to
the Suliman range. Kaisargarh is a fine limestone
mountain crowned by a fores't of the edible chilgoza
pine. But the ordinary tree growth, where found at
all, is of a much humbler kind, consisting of gnarled
olives and dwarf palms.
Passes and torrents in Suliman Hills. — The drainage
of the western slopes of the Suliman range finding no
exit on that side has had to wear out ways for itself
towards the plains which lie between the foot of the hills
and the Indus. This is the explanation of the large
number of passes, about one hundred, which lead from
the plains into the Suliman hills. The chief from north
to south are the Vehoa, the Sangarh, the Khair, the
Kaha, the Chachar, and the Siri, called from the torrents
which flow through them to the plains. There is an
easy route through the Chachar to Biluchistan. But
unfortunately the water of the torrent is brackish.
Sub Himalaya or Siwaliks. — In its lowest ridges the
Himalaya drops to a height of about 5000 feet. But
the traveller to any of the summer resorts in the mountains
passes through a zone of lower hills interspersed sometimes
with valleys or " duns." These consist of Tertiary
sandstones, clays, and boulder conglomerates, the debris
in fact which the Himalaya has dropped in the course
28 MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch.
of ages. To this group of hills and valleys the general
name of Siwaliks is given. East of the Jhelam it includes
the Nahan hills to the north of Ambala, the low hills
of Kangra, Hoshyarpur, Gurdaspur, and Jammu, and
the Pabbi hills in Gujrat. But it is to the west of the
Jhelam that the system has its greatest extension.
Practically the whole of the soil of the plains of the
Attock, Rawalpindi, and Jhelam districts consists of
disintegrated Siwalik sandstone, and differs widely in
appearance and agricultural quality from the alluvium
of the true Panjab plains. The low hills of these districts
belong to the same system, but the Salt Range is only
in part Siwalik. Altogether Siwalik deposits in the
Panjab cover an area of 13,000 square miles. Beyond
the Indus the hills of the Kohat district and a part of
the Suliman range are of Tertiary age.
The Great Panjab Plain. — The passage from the high-
lands to the plains is as a rule abrupt, and the contrast
between the two is extraordinary. This is true without
qualification of the tract between the Jamna and the
Jhelam. It is equally true of British districts west
of the Jhelam and south of the Salt Range and of lines
drawn from Kalabagh on the west bank of the Indus
southwards to Paniala and thence north-west through
the Pezu pass to the Waziristan hills. In all that vast
plain, if we except the insignificant hills in the extreme
south-west of the province ending to the north in the
historic ridge at Delhi, some hillocks of gneiss near
Tosham in Hissar, and the curious little isolated rocks
at Kirana, Chiniot, and Sangla near the Chenab and
Jhelam, the only eminences are petty ridges of wind-
blown sand and the " thehs " or mounds which represent
the accumulated debris of ancient village sites. At the
end of the Jurassic period and later this great plain
was part of a sea bed. Far removed as the Indian
ii] MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS 29
ocean now is the height above sea level of the Panjab
plain east of the Jhelam is nowhere above 1000 feet.
Delhi and Lahore are both just above the 700 feet line.
The hills mentioned above are humble time-worn outliers
of the very ancient Aravalli system, to which the hills
of Rajputana belong. Kirana and Sangla were already
of enormous age, when they were islands washed by the
waves of the Tertiary sea. A description of the different
parts of the vast Panjab plain, its great stretches of
firm loam, and its tracts of sand and sand hills, which
the casual observer might regard as pure desert, will
be given in the paragraphs devoted to the different
districts.
The Salt Range. — The tract west of the Jhelam,
and bounded on the south by the Salt Range cis-Indus,
and trans-Indus by the lines mentioned above, is of
a more varied character. Time worn though the Salt
Range has become by the waste of ages, it still rises
at Sakesar, near its western extremity, to a height of
5000 feet. The eastern part of the range is mostly in
the Jhelam district, and there the highest point is Chail
(3700 feet). The hill of Tilla (3242 feet), which is a
marked feature of the landscape looking westwards
from Jhelam cantonment, is on a spur running north-
east from the main chain. The Salt Range is poorly
wooded, the dwarf acacia or phuldhi (Acacia modesta),
the olive, and the sanattha shrub (Dodonea viscosa)
are the commonest species. But these jagged and arid
hills include some not infertile valleys, every inch of
which is put under crop by the crowded population.
To geologists the range is of special interest, including
as it does at one end of the scale Cambrian beds of enor-
mous antiquity and at the other rocks of Tertiary age.
Embedded in the Cambrian strata there are great deposits
of rock salt at Kheora, where the Mayo mine is situated.
30 MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS [ch.
At Kalabagh the Salt Range reappears on the far side
of the Indus. Here the salt comes to the surface,
and its jagged pinnacles present a remarkable appearance.
Country north of the Salt Range. — The country to
the north of the Salt Range included in the districts
of Jhelam, Rawalpindi, and Attock is often ravine-
bitten and seamed with the white sandy beds of torrents.
Generally speaking it is an arid precarious tract, but
there are fertile stretches which will be mentioned in
the descriptions of the districts. The general height of
the plains north of the Salt Range is from iooo feet to
2000 feet above sea level. The rise between Lahore
and Rawalpindi is just over a thousand feet. Low hills
usually form a feature of the landscape, pleasing at a
distance or when softened by the evening light, but bare
and jagged on a nearer view. The chief hills are the
Margalla range between Hazara and Rawalpindi, the
Kalachitta and the Khairimurat hills running east and
west through Attock and the very dry and broken Narrara
hills on the right bank of the Indus in the same district.
Between the Margalla and Kalachitta hills is the Margalla
pass on the main road from Rawalpindi to the passage
of the Indus at Attock, and therefore a position of con-
siderable strategical importance. The Kalachitta (black
and white) chain is so called because the north side is
formed of nummulitic limestone and the south mainly
of a dark purple sandstone. The best tree-growth is
therefore on the north side.
Peshawar, Kohat, and Bannu. — Across the Indus the
Peshawar and Bannu districts are basins ringed with
hills and drained respectively by the Kabul and Kurram
rivers with their affluents. Between these two basins
lies the maze of bare broken hills and valleys which
make up the Kohat district. The cantonment of Kohat
is 1700 feet above sea level and no hill in the district
ii] MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS 31
reaches 5000 feet. Near the Kohat border in the south-
west of the Peshawar district are the Khattak hills,
the culmination of which at Ghaibana Sir has a height
of 5136 feet, and the military sanitarium of Cherat in
the same chain is 600 feet lower. On the east the Maidani
hills part Bannu from Isakhel, the trans-Indus tahsil
of Mianwali, and on the south the Marwat hills divide
it from Dera Ismail Khan. Both are humble ranges.
The highest point in the Marwat hills is Shekhbudin,
a bare and dry limestone rock rising to an elevation
of over 4500 feet.
CHAPTER III
RIVERS
The Pan jab Rivers. — " Pan jab " is a Persian compound
word, meaning " five waters," and strictly speaking
the word denotes the country between the valley of
the Jhelam and that of the Sutlej. The intermediate
rivers from west to east are the Chenab, the Ravi, and
the Bias. Their combined waters at last flow into the
Panjnad or " five rivers " at the south-west corner of
the Multan district, and the volume of water which
44 miles lower down the Panjnad carries into the Indus
is equal to the discharge of the latter. The first Aryan
settlers knew this part of India as the land of the seven
rivers (sapta sindhavas), adding to the five mentioned
above the Indus and the Sarasvati. The old Vedic
name is more appropriate than Panjab if we substitute
the Jamna for the Sarasvati or Sarusti, which is now
a petty stream.
River Valleys. — The cold weather traveller who is
carried from Delhi to Rawalpindi over the great railway
bridges at points chosen because there the waters of the
rivers are confined by nature, or can be confined by art,
within moderate limits, has little idea of what one of
these rivers is like in flood time. He sees that, even
at such favoured spots, between the low banks there
is a stretch of sand far exceeding in width the main
channel, where a considerable volume of water is running,
and the minor depressions, in which a sluggish and
Ill]
RIVERS
33
shallow flow may still be found. If, leaving the railway,
he crosses a river by some bridge of boats or local ferry,
he will find still wider expanses of sand sometimes bare
and dry and white, at others moist and dark and covered
with dwarf tamarisk. He may notice that, before he
Fig. ii. Panjab Rivers.
reaches the sand and the tamarisk scrub, he leaves by
a gentle or abrupt descent the dry uplands, and passes
into a lower, greener, and perhaps to his inexperienced
eye more fertile seeming tract. This is the valley, often
miles broad, through which the stream has moved in
ever-shifting channels in the course of centuries. He
3
D. P.
34 RIVERS [ch.
finds it hard to realize that, when the summer heats
melt the Himalayan snows, and the monsoon currents,
striking against the northern mountain walls, are pre-
cipitated in torrents of rain, the rush of water to the
plains swells the river 20, 30, 40, or even 50 fold. The
sandy bed then becomes full from bank to bank, and
the silt laden waters spill over into the cultivated low-
lands beyond. Accustomed to the stable streams of his
own land, he cannot conceive the risks the riverside farmer
in the Panjab runs of having fruitful fields smothered
in a night with barren sand, or lands and well and house
sucked into the river-bed. So great and sudden are
the changes, bad and good, wrought by river action
that the loss and gain have to be measured up year by
year for revenue purposes. Nor is the visitor likely to
imagine that the main channel may in a few seasons
become a quite subsidiary or wholly deserted bed. Like
all streams, e.g. the Po, which flow from the mountains
into a flat terrain, the Panjab rivers are perpetually
silting up their beds, and thus, by their own action,
becoming diverted into new channels or into existing
minor ones, which are scoured out afresh. If our traveller,
leaving the railway at Rawalpindi, proceeds by tonga
to the capital of Kashmir, he will find between Kohala
and Baramula another surprise awaiting him. The
noble but sluggish river of the lowlands, which he crossed
at the town of Jhelam, is here a swift and deep torrent,
flowing over a boulder bed, and swirling round water-
worn rocks in a gorge hemmed in by mountains. That
is the typical state of the Himalayan rivers, though the
same Jhelam above Baramula is an exception, flowing
there sluggishly through a very flat valley into a shallow
lake.
The Indus Basin. — The river Sindh (Sanskrit, Sindhu),
more familiar to us under its classical name of the Indus,
in] RIVERS 35
must have filled with astonishment every invader from
the west, and it is not wonderful that they called after
it the country that lay beyond. Its basin covers an
area of 373,000 square miles. Confining attention to
Asia these figures, large though they seem, are far exceeded
by those of the Yangtsze-Kiang. The area of which a
description is attempted in this book is, with the exception
of a strip along the Jamna and the part of Kashmir
lying beyond the Muztagh-Karakoram range, all included
in the Indus basin. But it does not embrace the whole
of it. Part is in Tibet, part in Afghanistan and Bilu-
chistan, and part in Sindh, through which province the
Indus flows for 450 miles, or one-quarter of its whole
course of 1800 miles. It seems likely that the Jamna
valley was not always an exception, or at least that
that river once flowed westwards through Rajputana to
the Indian ocean. The five great rivers of the Pan jab
all drain into the Indus, and the Ghagar with its tributary,
the Sarusti, which now, even when in flood, loses itself
in the sands of Bikaner, probably once flowed down the
old Hakra bed in Bahawalpur either into the Indus
or by an independent bed now represented by an old
flood channel of the Indus in Sindh, the Hakro or Nara,
which passes through the Rann of Kachh.
The Indus outside British India. — To the north of
the Manasarowar lake in Tibet is Kailas, the Hindu
Olympus. On the side of this mountain the Indus is
said to rise at a height of 17,000 feet. After a course of
200 miles or more it crosses the south-east boundary
of the Kashmir State at an elevation of 13,800 feet.
From the Kashmir frontier to Mt Haramosh west of
Gilgit it flows steadily to the north-west for 350 miles.
After 125 miles Leh, the capital of Ladakh, is reached
at a height of 10,500 feet, and here the river is crossed
by the trade route to Yarkand. A little below Leh
3—2
36 RIVERS Lch.
the Indus receives the Zanskar, which drains the south-
east of Kashmir. After another 150 miles it flows through
the basin, in which Skardo, the principal town in Baltistan,
is situated. Above Skardo a large tributary, the Shyok,
flows in from the east at an elevation of 8000 feet. The
Shyok and its affluent, the Nubra, rise in the giant glaciers
to the south-west of the Karakoram pass. After the
Skardo basin is left behind the descent is rapid. The
river rushes down a tremendous gorge, where it appears
to break through the western Himalaya, skirts Haramosh,
and at a point twenty-five miles east of Gilgit bends
abruptly to the south. Shortly after it is joined from the
west by the Gilgit river, and here the bed is about 4000 feet
above sea level. Continuing to flow south for another
twenty miles it resumes its westernly course to the north
of Nanga Parvat and persists in it for 100 miles. Our
political post of Chilas lies in this section on the south
bank. Fifty or sixty miles west of Chilas the Indus
turns finally to the south. From Jalkot, where the
Kashmir frontier is left, to Palosi below the Mahaban
mountain it flows for a hundred miles through territory
over which we only exercise political control. Near
Palosi, 812 miles from the source, the river enters British
India. In Kashmir the Indus and the Shyok in some
places flow placidly over alluvial flats, and at others
with a rapid and broken current through narrow gorges.
At Skardo their united stream is said, even in winter,
to be 500 feet wide and nine or ten feet deep. If one
of the deep gorges, as sometimes happens, is choked by
a landslip, the flood that follows when the barrier finally
bursts may spread devastation hundreds of miles away.
To the north of the fertile Chach plain in Attock there
is a wide stretch of land along the Indus, which still
shows in its stony impoverished soil the effects of the
great flood of 1841.
in] RIVERS 37
The Indus in British India. — After reaching British
India the Indus soon becomes the boundary dividing
Hazara and Peshawar, two districts of the North West
Frontier Province. Lower down it parts Peshawar from
the Panjab district of Attock. In this section after a
time the hills recede on both sides, and the stream is
wide and so shallow that it is fordable in places in the
cold weather. There are islands, ferry boats and rafts
Fig. 12. The Indus at Attock.
can ply, and the only danger is from sudden freshets.
Ohind, where Alexander crossed, is in this section. A
more famous passage is at Attock just below the junction
of the Kabul river. Here the heights again approach
the Indus on either bank. The volume of water is vastly
increased by the union of the Kabul river, which brings
down the whole drainage of the southern face of the
Hindu Kush. From the north it receives near Jalalabad
the Kunar river, and near Charsadda in Peshawar the
38
RIVERS
[CH.
Swat, which with its affluent the Panjkora drains Dir,
Bajaur, and Swat. In the cold weather looking north-
wards from the Attock fort one sees the Kabul or Landai
as a blue river quietly mingling with the Indus, and in
the angle between them a stretch of white sand. But
during floods the junction is the scene of a wild turmoil
of waters. At Attock there are a railway bridge, a bridge
of boats, and a ferry. The bed of the stream is 2000
Fig. *3- Indus at Kafirkot, D.I. Khan dt.
feet over sea level. For ninety miles below Attock the
river is confined between bare and broken hills, till it
finally emerges into the plains from the gorge above
Kalabagh, where the Salt Range impinges on the left
bank. Between Attock and Kalabagh the right bank
is occupied by Peshawar and Kohat and the left by Attock
and Mian wall. In this section the Indus is joined by
the Haro and Soan torrents, and spanned at Khushalgarh
by a railway bridge. This is the only other masonry
in] RIVERS 39
bridge crossing it in the Panjab. Elsewhere the passage
has to be made by ferry boats or by boat bridges, which
are taken down in the rainy season. At Kalabagh the
height above sea level is less than iooo feet. When it
passes the western extremity of the Salt Range the river
spreads out into a wide lake-like expanse of waters. It
has now performed quite half of its long journey. Hence-
forth it receives no addition from the east till the Panjnad
in the south-west corner of the Muzaffargarh district
brings to it the whole tribute of the five rivers of the
Panjab. Here, though the Indian ocean is still 500
miles distant, the channel is less than 300 feet above the
sea. From the west it receives an important tributary
in the Kurram, which, with its affluent the Tochi, rises
in Afghanistan. The torrents from the Suliman Range
are mostly used up for irrigation before they reach the
Indus, but some of them mingle their waters with it
in high floods Below Kalabagh the Indus is a typical
lowland river of great size, with many sandy islands in
the bed and a wide valley subject to its inundations.
Opposite Dera Ismail Khan the valley is seventeen miles
across. As a plains river the Indus runs at first through
the Mianwali district of the Panjab, then divides Mianwali
from Dera Ismail Khan, and lastly parts Muzaffargarh
and the Bahawalpur State from the Panjab frontier
district of Dera Ghazi Khan.
The Jhelam. — The Jhelam, the most westernly of the
five rivers of the Panjab, is called the Veth in Kashmir
and locally in the Panjab plains the Vehat. These names
correspond to the Bihat of the Muhammadan historians
and the Hydaspes of the Greeks, and all go back to the
Sanskrit Vitasta. Issuing from a deep pool at Vernag
to the east of Islamabad in Kashmir it becomes navigable
just below that town, and flows north-west in a lazy
stream for 102 miles through Srinagar, the summer
40 RIVERS Lch.
capital, into the Wular lake, and beyond it to Baramiila.
The banks are quite low and often cultivated to the river's
edge. But across the flat valley there is on either side
a splendid panorama of mountains. From Baramiila the
character of the Jhelam suddenly changes, and for the
next 70 miles to Kohala, where the traveller crosses
by a fine bridge into the Panjab, it rushes down a deep
gorge, whose sides are formed by the Kajnag mountains
on the right, and the Pir Panjal on the left, bank. Between
Baramiila and Kohala there is a drop from 5000 to 2000
feet. At Domel, the stage before Kohala the Jhelam
receives from the north the waters of the Kishnganga,
and lower down it is joined by the Kunhar, which drains
the Kagan glen in Hazara. A little above Kohala it
turns sharply to the south, continuing its character as
a mountain stream hemmed in by the hills of Rawalpindi
on the right bank and of the Punch State on the left.
The hills gradually sink lower and lower, but on the left
side only disappear a little above the cantonment of
Jhelam, where there is a noble railway bridge. From
Jhelam onwards the river is of the usual plains' type.
After dividing the districts of Jhelam (right bank) and
Gujrat (left), it flows through the Shahpur and Jhang
districts, falling finally into the Chenab at Trimmu,
450 miles from its source. There is a second railway
bridge at Haranpur on the Sind Sagar line, and a bridge
of boats at Khushab, in the Shahpur district. The noblest
and most varied scenery in the north-west Himalaya
is in the catchment area of the Jhelam. The Kashmir
valley and the valleys which drain into the Jhelam from
the north, the Liddar, the Lolab, the Sind, and the Kagan
glen, display a wealth of beauty unequalled elsewhere.
Nor does this river wholly lose its association with beauty
in the plains. Its very rich silt gives the lands on its
banks the green charm of rich crops and pleasant trees.
in] RIVERS 41
The Chenab. — The Chenab (more properly Chinab or
river of China) is the Asikni of the Vedas and the Akesines
of the Greek historians. It is formed by the union of
the Chandra and Bhaga, both of which rise in Lahul
near the Baralacha pass. Having become the Chandra-
bhaga the river flows through Pangi in Chamba and the
south-east of Kashmir. Near Kishtwar it breaks through
the Pir Panjal range, and thenceforwards receives the
drainage of its southern slopes. At Akhnur it becomes
navigable and soon after it enters the Pan jab district
of Sialkot. A little later it is joined from the west by
the Tawi, the stream above which stands Jammu, the
winter capital of Kashmir. The Chenab parts Sialkot
and Gujranwala on the left bank from Gujrat and Shahpur
on the right. At Wazirabad, near the point where
Sialkot, Gujrat, and Gujranwala meet, it is crossed by
the Alexandra railway bridge. Leaving Shahpur and
Gujranwala behind, the Chenab flows through Jhang
to its junction with the Jhelam at Trimmu. In this
section there is a second railway bridge at Chund Bhar-
wana. The united stream runs on under the name of
Chenab to be joined on the north border of the Multan
district by the Ravi and on its southern border by the
Sutlej. Below its junction with the latter the stream
is known as the Panjnad. In the plains the Chenab
cannot be called an attractive river, and its silt is far
inferior to that of the Jhelam.
The Ravi. — The Ravi was known to the writers of
the Vedic hymns as the Parushni, but is called in classical
Sanskrit Iravati, whence the Hydraotes of the Greek
historians. It rises near the Rotang pass in Kangra,
and flows north-west through the southern part of Chamba.
Below the town of Chamba, it runs as a swift slaty-blue
mountain stream, and here it is spanned by a fine bridge.
Passing on to the north of the hill station of Dalhousie
42
RIVERS
[CH.
it reaches the Kashmir border, and turning to the south-
west flows along it to Basoli where Kashmir, Chamba,
and the British district of Gurdaspur meet. At this
point it is 2000 feet above the sea level. It now forms
the boundary of Kashmir and Gurdaspur, and finally
near Madhopur, where the head-works of the Ban Doab
canal are situated, it passes into the Gurdaspur district.
Shortly after it is joined from the north by a large torrent
called the Ujh, which rises in the Jammu hills. After
Fig. 14. Fording the River at Lahore.
reaching the Sialkot border the Ravi parts that district
first from Gurdaspur and then from Amritsar, and,
passing through the west of Lahore, divides Montgomery
and Lyallpur, and flowing through the north of Multan
joins the Chenab near the Jhang border. In Multan
there is a remarkable straight reach in the channel known
as the Sidhnai, which has been utilized for the site of
the head-works of a small canal. The Degh, a torrent
which rises in the Jammu hills and has a long course
in] RIVERS 43
through the Sialkot and Gujranwala districts, joins the
Ravi when in flood in the north of the Lyallpur district.
But its waters will now be diverted into the river higher
up in order to safeguard the Upper Chenab canal. Lahore
is on the left bank of the Ravi. It is a mile from the
cold weather channel, but in high floods the waters have
often come almost up to the Fort. At Lahore the North
Western Railway and the Grand Trunk Road are carried
over the Ravi by masonry bridges. There is a second
railway bridge over the Sidhnai reach in Multan. Though
the Ravi, like the Jhelam, has a course of 450 miles,
it has a far smaller catchment area, and is really a some-
what insignificant stream. In the cold weather the
canal takes such a heavy toll from it that below Madhopur
the supply of water is mainly drawn from the Ujh, and
in Montgomery one may cross the bed dryshod for
months together. The valley of the Ravi is far narrower
than those of the rivers described in the preceding
paragraphs, and the floods are most uncertain, but when
they occur are of very great value.
The Bias. — The Bias (Sanskrit, Vipasa ; Greek,
Hyphasis) rises near the Rotang pass at a height of
about 13,000 feet. Its head-waters are divided from
those of the Ravi by the Bara Bangahal range. It flows
for about sixty miles through the beautiful Kulu valley
to Larji (3000 feet). It has at first a rapid course, but
before it reaches Sultanpur (4000 feet), the chief village
in Kulu, some thirty miles from the source, it has become,
at least in the cold weather, a comparatively peaceful
stream fringed with alder thickets. Heavy floods, how-
ever, sometimes cover fields and orchards with sand
and boulders. There is a bridge at Manali (6100 feet),
a very lovely spot, another below Nagar, and a third at
Larji. Near Larji the river turns to the west down a
bold ravine and becomes for a time the boundary between
44
RIVERS
CH.
Kulu and the Mandi State. Near the town of Mandi,
where it is bridged, it bends again, and winds in a north-
west and westerly direction through low hills in the
south of Kangra till it meets the Siwaliks on the Hoshyar-
pur border. In this reach there is a bridge of boats
at Dera Gopipur on the main road from Jalandhar and
Hoshyarpur to Dharmsala. Elsewhere in the south
of Kangra the traveller can cross without difficulty on
Fig. 15. Bias at Manali.
a small bed supported on inflated skins. Sweeping round
the northern end of the Siwaliks the Bias, having after
long parting again approached within about fifteen
miles of the Ravi, turns definitely to the south, forming
henceforth the dividing line between Hoshyarpur and
Kapiirthala (left bank) and Gurdaspur and Amritsar
(right). Finally above the Harike ferry at a point
where Lahore, Amritsar, Ferozepur, and Kapiirthala
nearly meet, it falls into the Sutlej. The North Western
in] RIVERS 45
Railway crosses it by a bridge near the Bias station
and at the same place there is a bridge of boats for the
traffic on the Grand Trunk Road. The chief affluents
are the Chakki, the torrent which travellers to Dharmsala
cross by a fine bridge twelve miles from the rail-head
at Pathankot, and the Black Bein in Hoshyarpur and
Kapurthala. The latter is a winding drainage channel,
which starts in a swamp in the north of the Hoshyarpur
district. The Bias has a total course of 390 miles. Only
for about eighty miles or so is it a true river of the plains,
and its floods do not spread far.
The Sutlej.— The Sutlej is the Shatadru of Vedic
hymns and the Zaradros of Greek writers. The peasant
of the Panjab plains knows it as the Nili or Ghara. After
the Indus it is the greatest of Panjab rivers, and for its
source we have to go back to the Manasarowar lakes in
Tibet. From thence it flows for 200 miles in a north-
westerly direction to the British frontier near Shipki.
A little beyond the Spiti river brings it the drainage of
the large tract of that name in Kangra and of part of
Western Tibet. From Shipki it runs for forty miles
in deep gorges through Kunawar in the Bashahr State
to Chini, a beautiful spot near the Wangtu bridge, where
the Hindustan-Tibet road crosses to the left bank.
A little below Chini the Baspa flows in from the south-
east. The fall between the source and Chini is from
15,000 to 7500 feet. There is magnificent cliff scenery
at Rogi in this reach. Forty miles below Chini the capital
of Bashahr, Rampur, on the south bank, is only 3300
feet above sea level. There is a second bridge at Rampur,
and from about this point the river becomes the boundary
of Bashahr and Kulu, the route to which from Simla
passes over the Luri bridge (2650 feet) below Narkanda.
Beyond Luri the Sutlej runs among low hills through
several of the Simla Hill States. It pierces the Siwaliks
46 RIVERS [ch.
at the Hoshyarpur border and then turns to the south,
maintaining that trend till Rupar and the head-works
of the Sirhind canal are reached. For the next hundred
miles to the Bias junction the general direction is west.
Above the Harike ferry the Sutlej again turns, and flows
steadily, though with many windings, to the south-west
till it joins the Chenab at the south corner of the Multan
district. There are railway bridges at Phillaur, Feroze-
pur, and Adamwahan. In the plains the Sutlej districts
are — on the right bank Hoshyarpur, Jalandhar, Lahore,
and Montgomery, and on the left Ambala, Ludhiana
and Ferozepur. Below Ferozepur the river divides
Montgomery and Multan from Bahawalpur (left bank).
The Sutlej has a course of 900 miles, and a large catchment
area in the hills. Notwithstanding the heavy toll taken
by the Sirhind canal, its floods spread pretty far in
Jalandhar and Ludhiana and below the Bias junction
many monsoon canals have been dug which inundate
a large area in the lowlands of the districts on either
bank and of Bahawalpur. The dry bed of the Hakra,
which can be traced through Bahawalpur, Bikaner,
and Sindh, formerly carried the waters of the Sutlej to
the sea.
The Ghagar and the Sarusti. — The Ghagar, once a
tributary of the Hakra, rises within the Sirmur State in
the hills to the east of Kalka. A few miles south of
Kalka it crosses a narrow neck of the Ambala district,
and the bridge on the Ambala-Kalka railway is in this
section. The rest of its course, till it loses itself in the
sands of Bikaner, is chiefly in Patiala and the Karnal
and Hissar districts. It is joined by the Umla torrent
in Karnal and lower down the Sarusti unites with it in
Patiala just beyond the Karnal border. It is hard to
believe that the Sarusti of to-day is the famous Sarasvati
of the Vedas, though the little ditch-like channel that
in] RIVERS 47
bears the name certainly passes beside the sacred sites of
Thanesar and Pehowa. A small sandy torrent bearing
the same name rises in the low hills in the north-east
of the Ambala district, but it is doubtful if its waters,
which finally disappear into the ground, ever reach the
Thanesar channel. That seems rather to originate in
the overflow of a rice swamp in the plains, and in the
cold weather the bed is usually dry. In fact, till the
Sarusti receives above Pehowa the floods of the Markanda
torrent, it is a most insignificant stream. The Markanda,
when in flood, carries a large volume of water, and below
the junction the small channel of the Sarusti cannot
carry the tribute received, which spreads out into a shallow
lake called the Sainsa jhil. This has been utilized for
the supply of the little Sarusti canal, which is intended
to do the work formerly effected in a rude way by throwing
bands or embankments across the bed of the stream,
and forcing the water over the surrounding lands. The
same wasteful form of irrigation was used on a large
scale on the Ghagar and is still practised on its upper
reaches. Lower down earthen bands have been super-
ceded by a masonry weir at Otu in the Hissar district.
The northern and southern Ghagar canals, which irrigate
lands in Hissar and Bikaner, take off from this weir.
Action of Torrents. — The Ghagar is large enough
to exhibit all the three stages which a cho or torrent
of intermittent flow passes through. Such a stream begins
in the hills with a well-defined boulder-strewn bed,
which is never dry. Reaching the plains the bed of a
cho becomes a wide expanse of white sand, hardly below
the level of the adjoining country, with a thread of water
passing down it in the cold weather. But from time to
time in the rainy season the channel is full from bank
to bank and the waters spill far and wide over the fields.
Sudden spates sometimes sweep away men and cattle
48 RIVERS [ch.
before they can get across. If, as in Hoshyarpur, the
chos flow into a rich plain from hills composed of friable
sandstone and largely denuded of tree-growth, they are
in their second stage most destructive. After long delay
an Act was passed in 1900, which gives the government
large powers for the protection of trees in the Siwaliks
and the reclamation of torrent beds in the plains. The
process of recovery cannot be rapid, but a measure of
success has already been attained. It must not be sup-
posed that the action of chos in this second stage
is uniformly bad. Some carry silt as well as sand, and
the very light loam which the great Markanda cho has
spread over the country on its banks is worth much
more to the farmer than the stiff clay it has overlaid.
Many chos do not pass into the third stage, when all
the sand has been dropped, and the bed shrinks into
a narrow ditch-like channel with steep clay banks. The
inundations of torrents like the Degh and the Ghagar
after this stage is reached convert the soil into a stiff
impervious clay, where flood-water will lie for weeks
without being absorbed into the soil. In Karnal the
wretched and fever-stricken tract between the Ghagar
and the Sarusti known as the Naili is of this character.
The Jamna. — The Jamna is the Yamuna of Sanskrit
writers. Ptolemy's and Pliny's versions, Diamouna and
Jomanes, do not deviate much from the original. It
rises in the Kumaon Himalaya, and, where it first meets
the frontier of the Simla Hill States, receives from the
north a large tributary called the Tons. Henceforth,
speaking broadly, the Jamna is the boundary of the
Panjab and the United Provinces. On the Panjab bank
are from north to south the Sirmur State, Ambala,
Karnal, Rohtak, Delhi, and Gurgaon. The river leaves
the Panjab where Gurgaon and the district of Mathra,
which belongs to the United Provinces, meet, and finally
in] RIVERS 49
falls into the Ganges at Allahabad. North of Mathr'a
Delhi is the only important town on its banks. The
Jamna is crossed by railway bridges between Delhi
and Meerut and between Ambala and Saharanpur.
Changes in Rivers. — Allusion has already been made
to the changes which the courses of Panjab rivers are
subject to in the plains. The Indus below Kalabagh
once ran through the heart of what is now the Thai
desert. We know that in 1245 a.d. Multan was in the
Sind Sagar Doab between the Indus and the united
streams of the Jhelam, Chenab, and Ravi. The Bias
had then no connection with the Sutlej, but ran in a bed
of its own easily to be traced to-day in the Montgomery
and Multan districts, and joined the Indus between
Multan and Uch. The Sutlej was still flowing in the
Hakra bed. Indeed its junction with the Bias near
Harike, which probably led to a complete change in
the course of the Bias, seems only to have taken place
within the last 150 years1.
1 Raverty's "The Mehran of Sind and its Tributaries," in Journal
of Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1897.
D. P.
CHAPTER IV
GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES
Extent of Geological Record. — Although the main
part of the Panjab plain is covered by a mantle of
comparatively recent alluvium, the provinces described
in this book display a more complete record of Indian
geological history than any other similar area in the
country. The variety is so great that no systematic or
sufficient description could be attempted in a short
chapter, and it is not possible, therefore, to do more in
these few pages than give brief sketches of the patches
of unusual interest.
Aravalli System. — In the southern and south-eastern
districts of the Panjab there are exposures of highly folded
and metamorphosed rocks which belong to the most
ancient formations in India. These occupy the northern
end of the Aravalli hills, which form but a relic of what
must have been at one time a great mountain range,
stretching roughly south-south-west through Rajputana
into the Bombay Presidency. The northern ribs of the
Aravalli series disappear beneath alluvial cover in the
Delhi district, but the rocks still underlie the plains to
the west and north-west, their presence being revealed
by the small promontories that peep through the alluvium
near the Chenab river, standing up as small hills near
Chiniot in the Shahpur, Jhang, and Lyallpur districts.
ch. iv] GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES 51
The Salt Range in the Jhelam and Shahpur districts,
with a western continuation in the Mianwali district to
and beyond the Indus, is the most interesting part of the
Pan jab to the geologist. It contains notable records of
three distinct eras in geological history. In association
with the well-known beds of rock-salt, which are being
extensively mined at Kheora, occur the most ancient
fossiliferous formations known in India, corresponding
in age with the middle and lower part of the Cambrian
system of Europe. These very ancient strata immediately
overlie the red marls and associated rock-salt beds, and
it is possible that they have been thrust over bodily to
occupy this position, as we have no parallel elsewhere
for the occurrence of great masses of salt in formation
older than the Cambrian.
The second fragment of geological history preserved
in the Salt Range is very much younger, beginning with
rocks which were formed in the later part of the Carboni-
ferous period. The most remarkable feature in this
fragment is a boulder-bed, resting unconformably on
the Cambrian strata and including boulders of various
shapes and sizes, which are often faceted and striated
in a way indicative of glacial action. Several of the
boulders belong to rocks of a peculiar and unmistakable
character, such as are found in situ on the western flanks
of the Aravalli Range, some 750 miles to the south.
The glacial conditions which gave rise to these boulder-
beds were presumably contemporaneous with those
that produced the somewhat similar formation lying
at the base of the great coal-bearing system in the Indian
peninsula. The glacial boulder-bed thus offers indirect
evidence as to the age of the Indian coal-measures, for
immediately above this bed in the Salt Range there
occur sandstones containing fossils which have affinities
with the Upper Carboniferous formations of Australia,
52 GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES [ch.
and on these sandstones again there lie alternations
of shales and limestones containing an abundance of
fossils that are characteristic of the Permo-Carboniferous
rocks of Russia. These are succeeded by an apparently
conformable succession of beds of still younger age,
culminating in a series of shales, sandstones, and lime-
stones of unmistakably Triassic age.
There is then an interruption in the record, and the
next younger series preserved occurs in the western
part of the Salt Range as well as in the hills beyond the
Indus. This formation is of Upper Jurassic age, corre-
sponding to the well-known beds of marine origin preserved
in Cutch. Then follows again a gap in the record, and
the next most interesting series of formations found in
the Salt Range become of great importance from the
economic as well as from the purely scientific point of
view; these are the formations of Tertiary age.
The oldest of the Tertiary strata include a prominent
limestone containing Nummulitic fossils, which are
characteristic of these Lower Tertiary beds throughout
the world. Here, as in many parts of North- Western
India, the Nummulitic limestones are associated with
coal which has been largely worked. The country
between the Salt Range plateau and the hilly region
away to the north is covered by a great stretch of com-
paratively young Tertiary formations, which were laid
down in fresh water after the sea had been driven back
finally from this region. The incoming of fresh-water
conditions was inaugurated by the formation of beds
which are regarded as equivalent in age to those known
as the Upper Nari in Sind and Eastern Baluchistan,
but the still later deposits, belonging to the well-known
Siwalik series, are famous on account of the great variety
and large size of many of the vertebrate fossil remains
which they have yielded. In these beds to the north
iv] GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES 53
of the Salt Range there have been found remains of
Dinotherium, forms related to the ancestors of the giraffe
and various other mammals, some of them, like the
Sivatherium, Mastodon, and Stegodon, being animals
of great size. On the northern side of the Salt Range
three fairly well-defined divisions of the Siwalik series
have been recognised; each being conspicuously fossili-
ferous — a feature that is comparatively rare in the
Siwalik hills further to the south-east, where these rocks
were first studied. The Siwalik series of the Salt Range
are thus so well developed that this area might be con-
veniently regarded as the type succession for the purpose
of correlating isolated fragmentary occurrences of the
same general series in northern and western India. To
give an idea as to the age of these rocks, it will be sufficient
to mention that the middle division of the series corre-
sponds roughly to the well-known deposits of Pikermi
and Samos.
Kashmir deserves special mention, as it is a veritable
paradise for the geologist. Of the variety of problems
that it presents one might mention the petrological
questions connected with the intrusion of the great
masses of granite, and their relation to the slates and
associated met amorphic rocks. Of fossiliferous systems
there is a fine display of material ranging in age from
Silurian to Upper Trias, and additional interest is added
by the long-continued volcanic eruptions of the " Panjal
trap." Students of recent phenomena have at their
disposal interesting problems in physiography, including
a grand display of glaciers, and the extensive deposits
of so-called karewas, which appear to have been formed
in drowned valleys, where the normal fluviatile conditions
are modified by those characteristic of lakes. The
occurrence of sapphires in Zanskar gives the State also an
interest to the mineralogist and connoisseur of gem-stones.
54 GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES [ch.
Of this kaleidoscopic assemblage of questions the
ones of most immediate interest are connected with the
Silurian-Trias succession in the Kashmir valley, for here
we have a connecting-link between the marine formations
of the Salt Range area and those which are preserved
in greater perfection in Spiti and other parts of the
Tibetan highlands, stretching away to the south-east
at the back of the great range of crystalline snow-covered
peaks.
In this interesting part of Kashmir the most important
feature to Indian geologists is the occurrence of plant
remains belonging to genera identical with those that
occur in the lower part of the great coal-bearing formation
of Peninsular India, known as the Gondwana system.
Until these discoveries were made in Kashmir about
ten years ago the age of the base of the Gondwanas was
estimated only on indirect evidence, partly due to the
assumption that glacial conditions in the Salt Range
and those at the base of the Gondwanas were contem-
poraneous, and partly due to analogy with the coal
measures of Australia and South Africa. In Kashmir
the characteristic plant remains of the Lower Gondwanas
are found associated with marine fossils in great abundance,
and these permit of a correlation of the strata with the
upper part of the Carboniferous system of the European
standard stratigraphical scale.
Kashmir seems to have been near the estuary of
one of the great rivers that formerly flowed over the
ancient continent of Gondwdnaland (when India and
South Africa formed parts of one continental mass) into
the great Eurasian Ocean known as Tethys. As the
deposits formed in this great ocean give us the principal
part of our data for forming a standard stratigraphical
scale, the plants which were carried out to sea become
witnesses of the kind of flora that flourished during the
iv] GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES 55
main Indian coal period ; they thus enable us with great
precision to fix the position of the fresh-water Gondwanas
in comparison with the marine succession.
Spiti. — With a brief reference to one more interesting
patch among the geological records of this remarkable
region, space will force us to pass on to consideration
of minerals of economic value. The line of snow-covered
peaks, composed mainly of crystalline rocks and forming
a core to the Himalaya in a way analogous to the granitic
core of the Alps, occupies what was once apparently
the northern shore of Gondwanaland, and to the north
of it there stretched the great ocean of Tethys, covering
the central parts of Asia and Europe, one of its shrunken
relics being the present Mediterranean Sea. The bed of
this ocean throughout many geological ages underwent
gradual depression and received the sediments brought
down by the rivers from the continent which stretched
away to the south. The sedimentary deposits thus formed
near the shore-line or further out in deep water attained
a thickness of well over 20,000 feet, and have been studied
in the tahsil of Spiti, on the northern border of Kumaon,
and again on the eastern Tibetan plateau to the north
of Darjeeling. A reference to the formations preserved
in Spiti may be regarded as typical of the geological
history and the conditions under which these formations
were produced.
Succession of Fossiliferous Beds.— In age the fossiliferous
beds range from Cambrian right through to the Tertiary
epoch ; between these extremes no single period was passed
without leaving its records in some part of the great east-
to-west Tibetan basin. At the base of the whole succession
there lies a series of schists which have been largely meta-
morphosed, and on these rest the oldest of the fossiliferous
series, which, on account of their occurring in the region
of snow, has been named the Haimanta system. The
56 GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES [ch.
upper part of the Haimanta system has been found to
contain the characteristic trilobites of the Cambrian
period of Europe. Over this system lie beds which have
yielded in succession Ordovician and Silurian fossils,
forming altogether a compact division which has been
distinguished locally as the Muth system. Then follows
the so-called Kandwar system, which introduces Devonian
conditions, followed by fossils characteristic of the well-
known mountain limestone of Europe.
Then occurs a break in the succession which varies
in magnitude in different localities, but appears to corre-
spond to great changes in the physical geography which
widely affect the Indian region. This break corresponds
roughly to the upper part of the Carboniferous system
of Europe, and has been suggested as a datum line for
distinguishing in India an older group of fossiliferous
systems below (formed in an area that has been distin-
guished by the name Dravidian), from the younger group
above, which has been distinguished by the name Aryan.
During the periods that followed this interruption
the bed of the great Eurasian Ocean seems to have
subsided persistently though intermittently. As the
various sediments accumulated the exact position of
the shore-line must have changed to some extent to
give rise to the conditions favourable for the formation
at one time of limestone, at another of shale and at other
times of sandy deposits. The whole column of beds,
however, seems to have gone on accumulating without
any folding movements, and they are consequently
now found lying apparently in perfect conformity stage
upon stage, from those that are Permian in age at the
base, right through the Mesozoic group, till the time
when Tertiary conditions were inaugurated and the
earth movements began which ultimately drove back
the ocean and raised the bed, with its accumulated load
iv] GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES 57
of sediments, into the great folds that now form the
Himalayan Range. This great mass of Aryan strata
includes an enormous number of fossil remains, giving
probably a more complete record of the gradual changes
that came over the marine fauna of Tethys than any
other area of the kind known. One must pass over
the great number of interesting features still left un-
mentioned, including the grand architecture of the Sub-
Himalaya and the diversity of formations in different
parts of the Frontier Province ; for the rest of the available
space must be devoted to a brief reference to the minerals
of value.
Rock-salt, which occurs in abundance, is possibly
the most important mineral in this area. The deposits
most largely worked are those which occur in the well-
known Salt Range, covering parts of the districts of
Jhelam, Shahpur, and Mianwali. Near the village of
Kheora the main seam, which is being worked in the
Mayo mines, has an aggregate thickness of 550 feet,
of which five seams, with a total thickness of 275 feet,
consist of salt pure enough to be placed on the table
with no more preparation than mere pulverising. The
associated beds are impregnated with earth, and in places
there occur thin layers of potash and magnesian salts.
In this area salt quarrying was practised for an unknown
period before the time of Akbar, and was continued
in a primitive fashion until it came under the control
of the British Government with the occupation of the
Panjab in 1849. In 1872 systematic mining operations
were planned, and the general line of work has been
continued ever since, with an annual output of roughly
100,000 tons.
Open quarries for salt are developed a short distance
to the east-north-east of Kalabagh on the Indus, and
similar open work is practised near Kohat in the North
58 GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES [ch.
West Frontier Province, where the quantity of salt may
be regarded as practically inexhaustible. At Bahadur
Khel the salt lies at the base of the Tertiary series,
and can be traced for a distance of about eight miles
with an exposed thickness of over iooo feet, sometimes
standing up as hills of solid salt above the general level
of the plains. In this area the production is naturally
limited by want of transport and the small local demand,
the total output from the quarries being about 16,000
tons per annum. A small quantity of salt (generally
about 4000 tons a year), is raised also from open quarries
in the Mandi State, where the rock-salt beds, distinctly
impure and earthy, lie near the junction between Tertiary
formations and the older unfossiliferous groups.
Coal occurs at numerous places in association with
the Nummulitic limestones of Lower Tertiary age, in
the Pan jab, in the North West Frontier Province, and
in the Jammu division of Kashmir. The largest output
has been obtained from the Salt Range, where mines
have been opened up on behalf of the North Western
Railway. The mines at Dandot in the Jhelam district
have considerable fluctuations in output, which, however,
for many years ranged near 50,000 tons. These mines,
having been worked at a financial loss, were finally
abandoned by the Railway Company in 191 1, but a
certain amount of work is still being continued by local
contractors. At Bhaganwala, 19 miles further east, in
the adjoining district of Shahpur, coal was also worked
for many years for the North Western State Railway,
but the maximum output in any one year never exceeded
14,000 tons, and in 1900, owing to the poor quality of
material obtained, the collieries were closed down.
Recently, small outcrop workings have been developed
in the same formation further west on the southern scarp
of the Salt Range at Tejuwala in the Shahpur district.
iv] GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES 59
Gold to a small amount is washed from the gravel
of the Indus and some other rivers by native workers,
and large concessions have, been granted for systematic
dredging, but these enterprises have not yet reached
the commercially paying stage.
Other Metals. — Prospecting has been carried on at
irregular intervals in Kulu and along the corresponding
belt of schistose rocks further west in Kashmir and Chitral.
The copper ores occur as sulphides along certain bands
in the chloritic and micaceous schists, similar in composi-
tion and probably in age to those worked further east
in Kumaon, in Nipal, and in Sikkim. In Lahul near the
Shigri glacier there is a lode containing antimony sulphide
with ores of zinc and lead, which would almost certainly
be opened up and developed but for the difficulty of
access and cost of transport to the only valuable markets.
Petroleum springs occur among the Tertiary formations
of the Panjab and Biluchistan, and a few thousand
gallons of oil are raised annually Prospecting operations
have been carried on vigorously during the past two
or three years, but no large supplies have so far been
proved. The principal oil-supplies of Burma and Assam
have been obtained from rocks of Miocene age, like those
of Persia and the Caspian region, but the most promising
"shows" in North West India have been in the older
Nummulitic formations, and the oil is thus regarded
by some experts as the residue of the material which has
migrated from the Miocene beds that probably at one
time covered the Nummulitic formations, but have since
been removed by the erosive action of the atmosphere.
Alum is manufactured from the pyritous shales of
the Mianwali district, the annual output being generally
about 200 to 300 tons. Similar shales containing pyrites
are known to occur in other parts of this area, and possibly
the industry might be considerably extended, as the
60 GEOLOGY AND. MINERAL RESOURCES [ch.
annual requirements of India, judged by the import
returns, exceed ten times the native production of alum.
Borax is produced in Ladakh and larger quantities
are imported across the frontier from Tibet. In the
early summer one frequently meets herds of sheep being
driven southwards across the Himalayan passes, each
sheep carrying a couple of small saddle-bags laden with
borax or salt, which is bartered in the Panjab bazars
for Indian and foreign stores for the winter requirements
of the snow-blocked valleys beyond the frontier.
Sapphires. — The sapphires of Zanskar have been worked
at intervals since the discovery of the deposit in 1881, and
some of the finest stones in the gem market have been
obtained from this locality, where work is, however, difficult
on account of the great altitude and the difficulty of access
from the plains.
Limestone. — Large deposits of Nummulitic limestone
are found in the older Tertiary formations of North- West
India. It yields a pure lime and is used in large quantities
for building purposes. The constant association of these
limestones with shale beds, and their frequent association
with coal, naturally suggest their employment for the
manufacture of cement ; and special concessions have
recently been given by the Panjab Government with
a view of encouraging the development of the industry.
The nodular impure limestone, known generally by the
name of kankar, contains sufficient clay to give it hydraulic
characters when burnt, and much cement is thus manu-
factured. The varying composition of kankar naturally
results in a product of irregular character, and con-
sequently cement so made can replace Portland cement
only for certain purposes.
Slate is quarried in various places for purely local
use. In the Kangra valley material of very high quality
is obtained and consequently secures a wide distribution,
iv] GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES 61
limited, however, by competition with cheaply made
tiles.
Gypsum occurs in large quantities in association
with the rock-salt of the Salt Range, but the local demand
is small. There are also beds of potash and magnesian
salts in the same area, but their value and quantity
have not been thoroughly proved.
January — February.
March to May.
Normal Rainfall.
I. N.W.F. Province. II. Kashmir.
III. Panjab E. and N. IV. Panjab S.W.
Fig. 1 6. Rainfall of different Seasons.
June to September.
October to December.
Normal Rainfall.
I. N.W.F. Province. II. Kashmir.
III. Panjab E. and N. IV. Panjab S.W.
Fig. 1 6 (cont.). Rainfall of different Seasons.
CHAPTER V
CLIMATE
Types of Climate. — The climate of the Panjab plains
is determined by their distance from the sea and the
existence of formidable mountain barriers to the north
and west. The factor of elevation makes the climate
of the Himalayan tracts very different from that of the
plains. Still more striking is the contrast between the
Indian Himalayan climate and the Central Asian Trans-
Himalayan climate of Spiti, Lahul, and Ladakh.
Zones. — A broad division into six zones may be
recognised :
A i. Trans-Himalayan.
B 2. Himalayan.
C. Plains 3. North Western.
4. Submontane.
5. Central and South Eastern.
6. South Western.
Trans- Himalayan Climate. — Spiti, Lahul, and Ladakh
are outside the meteorological influences which affect
the rest of the Indian Empire. The lofty ranges of the
Himalaya interpose an almost insurmountable barrier
between them and the clouds of the monsoon. The rain-
fall is extraordinarily small, and, considering the elevation
of the inhabited parts, 10,000 to 14,000 feet, the snowfall
there is not heavy. The air is intensely dry and clear,
and the daily and seasonal range of temperature is extreme.
Leh, the capital of Ladakh (11,500 feet), has an average
CH. V]
CLIMATE
65
rainfall (including snow) of about 3 inches. The mean
temperature is 430 Fahr., varying from 190 in January
to 640 in July. But these figures give no idea of the
rigours of the severe but healthy climate. The daily
range is from 25 to 30 degrees, or double what we are
accustomed to in England. Once 170 below zero was
Fig. 17. Average Barometric and Wind Chart for January.
recorded. In the rare dry clear atmosphere the power
of the solar rays is extraordinary. " Rocks exposed to
the sun may be too hot to lay the hand upon at the
same time that it is freezing in the shade."
The Indian Zones — Meteorological factors. — The dis-
tribution of pressure in India, determined mainly by
d. p. 5
(,()
CLIMATE
[CH.
changes of temperature, and itself determining the
direction of the winds and the character of the weather,
is shown graphically in figures 17 and 18. The winter
or north-east monsoon does not penetrate into the
Panjab, where light westernly and northernly winds
T T
Fig. 18. Average Barometric and Wind Chart for July.
prevail during the cold season. What rain is received is
due to land storms originating beyond the western frontier.
The branch of the summer or south-west monsoon which
chiefly affects the Panjab is that which blows up the
Bay of Bengal. The rain-clouds striking the Eastern
Himalaya are deflected to the west and forced up the
v] CLIMATE 67
Gangetic plain by south-westernly winds. The lower
ranges of the Pan jab Himalaya receive in this way very
heavy downpours. The rain extends into the plains,
but exhausts itself and dies away pretty rapidly to the
south and west. The Bombay branch of the monsoon
mostly spends itself on the Ghats and in the Deccan.
But a part of it penetrates from time to time to the south-
east Panjab, and, if it is sucked into the Bay current,
the result is widespread rain.
Himalayan Zone. — The impressions which English
people get of the climate of the Himalaya, or in Indian
phrase " the Hills," are derived mainly from stations
like Simla and Murree perched at a height of from 6500
to 7500 feet on the outer ranges. The data of meteoro-
logists are mainly taken from the same localities. Places
between 8000 and 10,000 feet in height and further from
the plains enjoy a finer climate, being both cooler and
drier in summer. But they are less accessible, and
weakly persons would find the greater rarity of the air
trying.
In the first fortnight of April the plains become
disagreeably warm, and it is well to take European
children to the Hills. The Panjab Government moves
to Simla in the first fortnight of May. By that time
Simla is pretty warm in the middle of the day, but the
nights are pleasant. The mean temperature of the 24
hours in May and June is 65 ° or 66°, the mean maximum
and minimum being 780 and 590. Thunderstorms with
or without hail are not uncommon in April, May, and
June. In a normal year the monsoon clouds drift up
in the end of June, and the next three months are " the
Rains." Usually it does not rain either all day or every
day, but sometimes for weeks together Simla is smothered
in a blanket of grey mist. Normally the rain comes
in bursts with longer or shorter breaks between. About
5—2
68 CLIMATE [ch.
the third week of September the rains often cease quite
suddenly, the end being usually proclaimed by a thunder-
storm. Next morning one wakes to a new heaven and
a new earth, a perfectly cloudless sky, and clean, crisp,
cool air. This ideal weather lasts for the next three
months. Even in December the days are made pleasant
by bright sunshine, and the range of temperature is
much less than in the plains. In the end of December
or beginning of January the night thermometer often
falls lower at Ambala and Rawalpindi than at Simla
and Murree. After Christmas the weather becomes
broken, and in January and February falls of snow
occur. It is a disagreeable time, and English residents
are glad to descend to the plains. In March also the
weather is often unsettled. The really heavy falls of
snow occur at levels much higher than Simla. These
remarks apply mutatis mutandis to Dharmsala, Dal-
housie, and Murree. Owing to its position right under
a lofty mountain wall Dharmsala is a far wetter place
than Simla. Murree gets its monsoon later, and the
summer rainfall is a good deal lighter. In winter it
has more snow, being nearer the source of origin of the
storms. Himalayan valleys at an elevation of 5000
feet, such as the Vale of Kashmir, have a pleasant
climate. The mean temperature of Srinagar (5255 feet)
varies from 330 in January to 750 in July, when it is
unpleasantly hot, and Europeans often move to Gulmarg.
Kashmir has a heavy snowfall even in the Jhelam valley.
Below 4000 feet, especially in confined river valleys
the Himalayan climate is often disagreeably hot and
stuffy.
Climate of the Plains. — The course of the seasons
is the same in the plains. The jaded resident finds
relief when the rains cease in the end of September.
The days are still warm, but the skies are clear, the air
v] CLIMATE 69
dry, and the nights cool. November is rainless and in
every way a pleasant month. The clouds begin to
gather before Christmas, but rain often holds off till
January. Pleasant though the early months of the cold
weather are, they lay traps for the unwary. In October
and November the daily range of temperature is very
large, exceeding 300, and the fall at sunset very sudden.
Care is needed to avoid a chill and the fever that follows.
Clear and dry though the air is, the blue of the skies
is pale owing to a light dust haze in the upper atmosphere.
For the same reason the Himalayan snows except after
rain are veiled from dwellers in the plains at a distance
of 30 miles from the foot-hills. The air in these months
before the winter rains is wonderfully still. In the three
months after Christmas the Pan jab is the pathway of
a series of small storms from the west, preceded by close
weather and occurring usually at intervals of a few
weeks. After a day or two of wet weather the sky clears,
and the storm is followed by a great drop in the tempera-
ture. The traveller who shivers after a January rainstorm
finds it hard to believe that the Panjab plain is a
part of the hottest region of the Old World which
stretches from the Sahara to Delhi. If he had to
spend the period from May to July there he would
have small doubts on the subject. The heat begins
to be unpleasant in April, when hot westernly winds
prevail. An occasional thunderstorm with hail relieves
the strain for a little. The warmest period of the year
is May and June. But the intense dry heat is healthier
and to many less trying than the mugginess of the rainy
season. The dust-storms which used to be common
have become rarer and lighter with the spread of canal
irrigation in the western Panjab. The rains ought to
break at Delhi in the end of June and at Lahore ten days
or a fortnight later. There is often a long break when
70 CLIMATE [ch. v
the climate is particularly trying. The nights are terribly
hot. The outer air is then less stifling than that of the
house, and there is the chance of a little comparative
coolness shortly before dawn. Many therefore prefer to
sleep on the roof or in the verandah. September, when
the rains slacken, is a muggy, unpleasant, and unhealthy
month. But in the latter half of it cooler nights give
promise of a better time.
Special features of Plain Zones. — The submontane
zone has the most equable and the pleasantest climate
in the plains. It has a rainfall of from 30 to 40 inches,
five-sevenths or more of which belongs to the monsoon
period (June — September) The north-western area has
a longer and colder winter and spring. In the end of
December and in January the keen dry cold is distinctly
trying. The figures in Statement I, for Rawalpindi and
Peshawar, are not very characteristic of the zone as a whole.
The average of the rainfall figures, 13 inches for Peshawar
and 32 for Rawalpindi, would give a truer result. The
monsoon rains come later and are much less abundant than
in the submontane zone. Their influence is very feeble in
the western and south-western part of the area. On the
other hand the winter rains are heavier than in any
other part of the province. Delhi and Lahore represent
the extreme conditions of the central and south-eastern
plains. The latter is really on the edge of the dry south-
western area. The eastern districts of the zone have
a shorter and less severe cold weather than the western,
an earlier and heavier monsoon, but scantier winter
rains. The total rainfall varies from 16 to 30 inches.
The south-western zone, with a rainfall of from 5 to 15
inches, is the driest part of India proper except northern
Sindh and western Rajputana. Neither monsoon current
affects it much. At Multan there are only about fifteen
days in the whole year on which any rain falls.
CHAPTER VI
HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES
Affinities of Panjab Flora. — It is hopeless to describe
except in the broadest outline the flora of a tract covering
an area of 250,000 square miles and ranging in altitude
from a few hundred feet to a height 10,000 feet above
the limit of flowering plants. The nature of the vegetation
of any tract depends on rainfall and temperature, and
only secondarily on soil. A desert is a tract with a
dry substratum and dry air, great heat during some part
of the year, and bright sunshine. The soil may be loam
or sand, and as regards vegetation a sandy desert is the
worst owing to the rapid drying up of the subsoil after
rain. In the third of the maps appended to Schimper's
Plant Geography by far the greater part of the area dealt
with in this book is shown as part of the vast desert
extending from the Sahara to Manchuria. Seeing that
the monsoon penetrates into the province and that it
is traversed by large snow-fed rivers the Panjab, except
in parts of the extreme western and south-western districts,
is not a desert like the Sahara or Gobi, and Schimper
recognised this by marking most of the area as semi-
desert. Still the flora outside the Hills and the sub-
montane tract is predominantly of the desert type,
being xerophilous or drought-resisting. The adaptations
which enable plants to survive in a tract deficient in
moisture are of various kinds. The roots may be greatly
developed to enable them to tap the subsoil moisture,
72 HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES [ch.
the leaves may be reduced in size, converted into thorns,
or entirely dispensed with, in order to check rapid evapora-
tion, they may be covered with silky or felted hairs,
a modification which produces the same result, or their
internal tissue may be succulent or mucilaginous. In
the plants of the Panjab plains there is no difficulty
in recognising these features of a drought-resisting flora.
Schimper's map shows in the north-east of the area a
wedge thrust in between the plains' desert and the dry
elevated alpine desert cut off from the influence of the
monsoon by the lofty barrier of the Inner Himalaya.
This consists of two parts, monsoon forest, corresponding
roughly with the Himalayan area Cis Ravi above the
5000 feet contour, and dry woodland of a semi-tropical
stamp, consisting of the adjoining foot-hills and sub-
montane tract. This wedge is in fact treated as part
of the zone, which in the map (after Drude) prefixed to
Willis' Manual and Dictionary of the Flowering Plants
and Ferns, is called Indo-Malayan, and which embraces
the Malayan Archipelago and part of North Australia,
Burma, and practically the whole of India except the
Panjab, Sindh, and Raj put ana. In Drude's map the
three countries last mentioned are included in a large
zone called " the Mediterranean and Orient." This is
a very broad classification, and in tracing the relationships
of the Panjab flora it is better to treat the desert area
of North Africa, which in Tripoli and Egypt extends to
the coast, apart from the Mediterranean zone. It is
a familiar fact that, as we ascend lofty mountains like
those of the Himalaya, we pass through belts or regions
of vegetation of different types. The air steadily becomes
rarer and therefore colder, especially at night, and at
the higher levels there is a marked reduction in the
rainfall. When the alpine region, which in the Himalaya
may be taken as beginning at 11,000 feet, is reached,
vi] HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES 73
the plants have as a rule bigger roots, shorter stems,
smaller leaves, but often larger and more brilliantly
coloured flowers. These are adaptations of a drought-
resisting kind.
Regions. — In this sketch it will suffice to divide the
tract into six regions :
Plains 1. Pan jab dry plain.
2. Salt Range and North West Plateau, from
the frontier to Pabbi Hills.
3. Submontane Hills on east bank of Jhelam.
Hills 4. Sub-Himalaya, 2000-5000 feet.
5. Temperate Himalaya, 5000-11,000 feet.
6. Alpine Himalaya, 11,000-16,000 feet.
Of course a flora does not fit itself into compartments,
and the changes of type are gradual.
Pan jab Dry Plain. — The affinities of the flora of
the Pan jab plains south of the Salt Range and the
submontane tract are, especially in the west, with the
desert areas of Persia, Arabia, and North Africa, though
the spread of canal irrigation is modifying somewhat
the character of the vegetation. The soil and climate
are unsuited to the growth of large trees, but adapted
to scrub jungle of a drought-resisting type, which at
one time covered very large areas from the Jamna to
the Jhelam. The soil on which this sparse scrub grew
is a good strong loam, but the rainfall was too scanty
and the water-level too deep to admit of much cultivation
outside the valleys of the rivers till the labours of canal
engineers carried their waters to the uplands. East
of the Sutlej the Bikaner desert thrusts northwards
a great wedge of sandy land which occupies a large area
in Bahawalpur, Hissar, Ferozepur, and Patiala. Soil of
this description is free of forest growth, and the monsoon
rainfall in this part of the province is sufficient to encourage
an easy, but very precarious, cultivation of autumn
74 HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES [ch.
millets and pulses. The great Thai desert to the south
of the Salt Range between the valleys of the Jhelam and
the Indus has a similar soil, but the scantiness of the
rainfall has confined cultivation within much narrower
limits. Between the Sutlej and the Jhelam the uplands
between the river valleys are known locally as Bars.
The largest of the truly indigenous trees of the Panjab
plains are the far ash (Tamarix articulata) and the thorny
kikar (Acacia Arabica). The latter yields excellent
wood for agricultural implements, and fortunately it
grows well in sour soils. Smaller thorny acacias are
the nimbar or raunj (Acacia leucophloea) and the khair
(Acacia Senegal). The dwarf tamarisk, pilchi or jhao
(Tamarix dioica), grows freely in moist sandy soils near
rivers. The scrub jungle consists mostly oijand (Prosopis
spicigera), a near relation of the Acacias, jdl or van
(Salvadora oleoides), and the coral-flowered karil or
leafless caper (Capparis aphylla). All these show their
desert affinities, the jand by its long root and its thorns,
the jdl by its small leathery leaves, and the karil by the
fact that it has managed to dispense with leaves altogether.
The jand is a useful little tree, and wherever it grows
the natural qualities of the soil are good. The sweetish
fruit of the jdl, known as pilu, is liked by the people,
and in famines they will even eat the berries of the
leafless caper. Other characteristic plants of the Panjab
plains are under Leguminosae, the khip (Crotalaria
burhia), two Farsetias (farid ki buti), and the jawdsa
or camel thorn (Alhagi camelorum), practically leafless,
but with very long and stout spines ; under Capparidaceae
several Cleomes, species of Corchorus (Tiliaceae), under
Zygophyllaceae three Mediterranean genera, Tribulus,
Zygophyllum, and Fagonia, under Solanaceae several
Solanums and Withanias, and various salsolaceous Cheno-
pods known as lana.
VI]
HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES
75
In the sandier tracts the ak (Calotropis procera, N.O.
Asclepiadaceae) , the harmal (Peganum harmala, N.O.
Rutaceae), and the colocynth gourd (Citrullus colocynthis,
N.O. Cucurbitaceae), which, owing to the size of its
roots, manages to nourish in the sands of African and
Indian deserts, grow abundantly. Common weeds of
cultivation are Fumaria parviflora, a near relation of
the English fumitory, Silene conoidea, and two Spergulas
Fig. 19. Banian or Bor trees.
(Caryophyllaceae) , and Sisymbrium Irio (Crucif erae) .
A curious little Orchid, Zeuxine sulcata, is found growing
among the grass on canal banks. The American yellow
poppy, Argemone Mexicana, a noxious weed, has un-
fortunately established itself widely in the Panjab plain.
Two trees of the order Leguminosae, the shisham or
tali (Dalbergia Sissoo) and the sir is (Albizzia lebbek),
are commonly planted on Panjab roads. The true home
76 HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES [ch.
of the former is in river beds in the low hills or in ravines
below the hills. But it is a favourite tree on roads and
near wells throughout the province, and deservedly so,
for it yields excellent timber. The siris on the other
hand is an untidy useless tree. The kikar might be
planted as a roadside tree to a greater extent. Several
species of figs, especially the pipal (Ficus religiosa) and
bor or banian (Ficus Indica) are popular trees.
Salt Range and North-West Plains. — Our second region
may be taken as extending from the Pabbi hills on the
east of the Jhelam in Gujrat to our administrative boun-
dary beyond the Indus, its southern limit being the Salt
Range. Here the flora is of a distinctly Mediterranean
type. Poppies are as familiar in Rawalpindi as they
are in England or Italy, and Hypecoum procumbens,
a curious Italian plant of the same order, is found in
Attock. The abundance of Crucifers is also a Mediter-
ranean feature. Eruca sativa, the oil-seed known as
tar amir a or jamidn, which sows itself freely in waste
land and may be found growing even on railway tracks
in the Rawalpindi division, is an Italian and Spanish
weed. Malcolmia strigosa, which spreads a reddish
carpet over the ground, and Malcolmia Africana are
common Crucifers near Rawalpindi. The latter is a
Mediterranean species. The Salt Range genera Diplotaxis
and Moricandia are Italian, and the peculiar Notoceras
Canadensis found in Attock is also a native of the Canary
Islands. Another order, Boraginaceae, which is very
prominent in the Mediterranean region, is also important
in the North-West Panjab, though the showier plants
of the order are wanting. One curious Borage, Arnebia
Grifnthii, seems to be purely Asiatic. It has five brown
spots on its petals, which fade and disappear in the
noonday sunshine. These are supposed to be drops of
sweat which fell from Muhammad's forehead, hence the
vi] HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES 77
plant is called paighambari phul or the prophet's flower.
Among Composites Calendulas and Carthamus oxyacantha
or the pohli, a near relation of the Carthamus which
yields the saffron dye, are abundant. Both are common
Mediterranean genera. Silybum Marianum, a handsome
thistle with large leaves mottled with white, extends
from Britain to Rawalpindi. Interesting species are
Tulipa stellata and Tulipa chrysantha. The latter is
a Salt Range plant, as is the crocus-like Merendera
Persica, and the yellow Iris Aitchisoni. A curious plant
found in the same hills is the cactus-like Boucerosia
(N.O. Asclepiadaceae), recalling to botanists the more
familiar Stapelias of the same order. Another leafless
Asclepiad, Periploca aphylla, which extends westwards
to Arabia and Nubia and southwards to Sindh, is, like
Boucerosia, a typical xerophyte adapted to a very dry
soil and atmosphere. The thorny Acacias, A. eburnea
and A. modesta (vern. phiddhi), of the low bare hills of
the N.W. Panjab are also drought-resisting plants.
Submontane Region.- — The Submontane region consists
of a broad belt below the Siwaliks extending from the
Jamna nearly to the Jhelam, and may be said to include the
districts of Ambala, Karnal (part), Hoshyarpur, Kangra
(part), Hazara (part), Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Sialkot,
Gujrat (part). In its flora there is a strong infusion
of Indo-Malayan elements. An interesting member of
it is the Butea frondosa, a small tree of the order Legu-
minosae. It is known by several names, dhdk, chichra,
paldh, and palds. Putting out its large orange-red
flowers in April it ushers in the hot weather. It has
a wide range from Ceylon to Bengal, where it has given
its name to the town of Dacca and the battlefield of
Plassy (Palasi). From Bengal it extends all the way
to Hazara. There can be no . doubt that a large part
of the submontane region was once dhdk forest. Tracts
78 HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES [ch.
in the north of Karnal — Chachra, in Jalandhar — Dardhak,
and in Gujrat — Palahi, have taken their names from this
tree. It coppices very freely, furnishes excellent firewood
and good timber for the wooden frames on which the
masonry cylinders of wells are reared, it exudes a valuable
gum, its flowers yield a dye, and the dry leaves are eaten
by buffaloes. A tree commonly planted near wells and
villages in the submontane tract is the dhrek (Melia
azedarach, N.O. Meliaceae), which is found as far west
as Persia and is often called by English people the Persian
lilac. The bahera (Terminalia belerica, N.O. Combre-
taceae), a much larger tree, is Indo-Malayan. Common
shrubs are the mar-wan (Vitex negundo, N.O. Verbe-
naceae), Plumbago Zeylanica (Plumbaginaceae), the bdnsa
or bhekar (Adhatoda vasica, N.O. Acanthaceae) . The
last is Indo-Malayan. Among herbs Cassias, which do
not occur in Europe, are common. The curious cactus-like
Euphorbia Royleana grows abundantly and is used for
making hedges.
Sub-Himalaya. — A large part of the Sub-Himalayan
region belongs to the Siwaliks. The climate is fairly
moist and subject to less extremes of heat and cold
than the regions described above. A strong infusion
of Indo-Malayan types is found and a noticeable feature
is the large number of flowering trees and shrubs. Such
beautiful flowering trees as the simal or silk-cotton tree
(Bombax Malabaricum, N.O. Malvaceae), the amaltds
(Cassia fistula), Albizzia mollis and Albizzia stipulata,
Erythrina suberosa, Bauhinia purpurea and Bauhinia
variegata, all belonging to the order Leguminosae, are
unknown in Europe, but common in the Indo-Malayan
region. This is true also of Oroxylum Indicum (N.O.
Bignoniaceae) with its remarkable long sword-like capsules,
and of the kamila (Mallotus Philippinensis), which abounds
in the low hills, but may escape the traveller's notice
vi] HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES 79
as its flowers have no charm of form or colour. He will
in spring hardly fail to observe another Indo-Malayan
tree, the dhdwi (Woodfordia floribunda, N.O. Lythraceae)
with its bright red flowers. Shrubs with conspicuous
flowers are also common, among which may be noted
species of Clematis, Capparis spinosa, Kydia calycina,
Mimosa rubicaulis, Hamiltonia suaveolens, Caryopteris
Wallichiana, and Nerium Oleander. The latter grows
freely in sandy torrent beds. Rhus cotinus, which
reddens the hillsides in May, is a native also of Syria,
Italy, and Southern France. Other trees to be noticed
are a wild pear (Pyrus pashia), the olive (Olea cuspidata),
the khair (Acacia catechu) useful to tanners, the tun
(Cedrela toona), whose wood is often used for furniture,
the dhdman (Grewia oppositifolia, N.O. Tiliaceae), and
several species of fig. The most valuable products
however of the forests of the lower hills are the chir
or chit pine (Pinus longifolia), and a giant grass, the
bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus), which attains a height
of from 20 to 40 feet. Shrubs which grow freely on
stony hills are the sanattha or mendru (Dodonaea viscosa,
N.O. Sapindaceae), which is a valuable protection against
denudation, as goats pass it by, the garna, which is a
species of Carissa, and Plectranthus rugosus. Climbers
are common. The great Hiptage madablota (N.O.
Malpighiaceae) , the Bauhinia Vahlii or elephant creeper,
and some species of the parasitic Loranthus, deserve
mention, also Acacia caesia, Pueraria tuberosa, Vallaris
Heynei, Porana paniculata, and several vines, especially
Vitis lanata with its large rusty leaves. Characteristic
herbs are the sweet-scented Viola patrinii, the slender
milkwort, Polygala Abyssinica, a handsome pea, Vigna
vexillata, a borage, Trichodesma Indicum, a balsam,
Impatiens balsamina, familiar in English gardens, the
beautiful delicate little blue Evolvulus alsinoides, the
So
HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES
[CH.
showy purple convolvulus, Ipomaea hederacea, and a
curious lily, Gloriosa superba.
Temperate Himalaya. — The richest part of the tem-
perate Himalayan flora is probably in the 7500-10,000
zone. Above 10,000 feet sup-alpine conditions begin, and
at 12,000 feet tree growth becomes very scanty and the
flora is distinctly alpine. The chir pine so common in sub-
Himalayan forests extends up to 6500 feet. At this height
Fig. 20. Deodars and Hill Temple.
and 1000 feet lower the ban oak (Quercus incana), grey on
the lower side of the leaf, which is so common at Simla,
abounds. Where the chil stops, the kail or blue pine
(Pinus excelsa), after the deodar the most valuable product
of Himalayan forests, begins. Its zone may be taken
as from 7000 to 9000 feet. To the same zone belong the
kelu or deodar (Cedrus Libani), the glossy leaved mohru
vi] HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES 81
oak (Quercus dilatata), whose wood is used for making
charcoal, and two small trees of the Heath order, Rhodo-
dendron arborea and Pieris ovalifolia. The former in
April and May lightens up with its bright red flowers
the sombre Simla forests. The kharshu or rusty-leaved
oak (Quercus semecarpifolia) affects a colder climate
than its more beautiful glossy-leaved relation, and may
almost be considered sub-alpine. It is common on
Hattu, and the oaks there present a forlorn appearance
after rain with funereal mosses dripping with moisture
hanging from their trunks. The firs, Picea morinda,
with its grey tassels; and Abies Pindrow with its dark
green yew-like foliage, succeed the blue pine. Picea
may be said to range from 8000 to 10,000 feet, and the
upper limit of Abies is from 1000 to 2000 feet higher.
These splendid trees are unfortunately of small commercial
value. The yew, Taxus baccata, is found associated
with them. Between 5000 and 8000 feet, besides the
oaks and other broad-leaved trees already noticed, two
relations of the dogwood, Cornus capitata and Cornus
macrophylla, a large poplar, Populus ciliata, a pear,
Pyrus lanata, a holly, Ilex dipyrena, an elm and its
near relation, Celtis australis, and species of Rhus and
Euonymus, may be mentioned. Cornus capitata is a
small tree, but it attracts notice because the heads of
flowers surrounded by bracts of a pale yellow colour
have a curious likeness to a rose, and the fruit is
in semblance not unlike a strawberry. Above 8000
feet several species of maple abound. The chindr or
Platanus orientalis, found as far west as Sicily, grows
to splendid proportions by the quiet waterways of the
Vale of Kashmir. The undergrowth in temperate Hima-
layan forests consists largely of barberries, Desmodiums,
Indigoferas, roses, brambles, Spiraeas, Viburnums, honey-
suckles with their near relation, Leycesteria formosa,
D. p. 6
Fig. 21. Firs in Himalaya.
ch. vi] HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES 83
which has been introduced into English shrubberies. The
great vine, Vitis Himalayana, whose leaves turn red
in autumn, climbs up many of the trees. Of the flowers
it is impossible to give any adequate account. The
flora is distinctly Mediterranean in type; the orders in
Collett's Flora Simlensis which are not represented
in the Italian flora contain hardly more than 5 per cent,
of the total genera. The plants included in some of these
Fig. 22. Chinars.
non-Mediterranean orders are very beautiful, for example,
the Begonias, the Amphicomes (Bignoniaceae), Chirita
bifolia and Platystemma violoides (Gesneraceae) , and
Hedychium (Scitamineae). More important members of
the flora are species of Clematis, including the beautiful
white Clematis montana, anemones, larkspurs, columbine,
monkshoods, St John's worts, geraniums, balsams, species
of Astragalus, Potentillas, Asters, ragworts, species of
6—2
84
HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES
[CH.
Cynoglossum, gentians and Swertias, Androsaces and
primroses, Wulfenia and louseworts, species of Stro-
bilanthes, Salvias and Nepetas, orchids, irises, Ophiopogon,
Smilax, Alliums, lilies, and Solomon's seal. Snake plants
(Arisaema) and their relation Sauromatum guttatum
of the order Araceae are very common in the woods.
The striped spathe in some species of Arisaema bears
Fig. 23. Rhododendron campanulatum.
a curious resemblance to the head of a cobra uplifted
to strike. Orchids decrease as one proceeds westwards,
but irises are much more common in Kashmir than in
the Simla hills. The Kashmir fritillaries include the
beautiful Crown Imperial.
Alpine Himalaya. — In the Alpine Himalaya the scanty
tree-growth is represented by willows, junipers, and
vi] HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES 85
birches. After 12,000 or 12,500 feet it practically dis-
appears. A dwarf shrub, Juniperus rccurva, is found
clothing hill-sides a good way above the two trees of
the same genus. Other alpine shrubs which may be
noticed are two rhododendrons, which grow on cliffs
at an elevation of 10,000 to 14,000 feet, R. campanulatum
and R. lepidotum, Gaultheria nummularioides with its
black-purple berry, and Cassiope fastigiata, all belonging
to the order Ericaceae. The herbs include beautiful
primulas, saxifrages, and gentians, and in the bellflower
order species of Codonopsis and Cyananthus. Among
Composites may be mentioned the tansies, Saussureas,
and the fine Erigeron multiradiatus common in the forest
above Narkanda. In the bleak uplands beyond the
Himalaya tree-growth is very scanty, but in favoured
localities willows and the pencil cedar, Juniperus pseudo-
sabina, are found. The people depend for fuel largely
on a hoary bush of the Chenopod order, Eurotia ceratoides.
In places a profusion of the red Tibetan roses, Rosa
Webbiana, lightens up the otherwise dreary scene.
CHAPTER VII
FORESTS
Rights of State in Waste. — Under Indian rule the
State claimed full power of disposing of the waste, and,
even where an exclusive right in the soil was not main-
tained, some valuable trees, e.g. the deodar in the Hima-
laya, were treated as the property of the Raja. Under
the tenure prevailing in the hills the soil is the Raja's,
but the people have a permanent tenant right in any
land brought under cultivation with his permission.
In Kulu the British Government asserted its ownership
of the waste. In the south-western Panjab, where
the scattered hamlets had no real boundaries, ample
waste was allotted to each estate, and the remainder
was claimed as State property.
Kinds of Forest. — The lands in the Panjab over
which authority, varying through many degrees from
full ownership unburdened with rights of user down to
a power of control exercised in the interests of the sur-
rounding village communities, may be roughly divided into
(a) Mountain forests ;
{b) Hill forests ;
(c) Scrub and grass Jangal in the Plains
The first are forests of deodar, blue pine, fir, and oak
in the Himalaya above the level of 5000 feet. The hill
ch. vii] FORESTS 87
forests occupy the lower spurs, the Siwaliks in Hoshyarpur,
etc., and the low dry hills of the north-west. A strong
growth of chir pine (Pinus longifolia) is often found in
the Himalaya between 3000 and 5000 feet. Below
3000 feet is scrub forest, the only really valuable product
being bamboo. The hills in the north-western districts
of the Panjab and N.W.F. Province, when nature is
allowed to have its way, are covered with low scrub
including in some parts a dwarf palm (Nannorhops
Ritchieana), useful for mat making, and with a taller,
but scantier growth of phuldhi (Acacia modest a) and
wild olive. What remains of the scrub and grass jangal
of the plains is to be found chiefly in the Bar tracts
between the Sutlej and the Jhelam. Much of it has
disappeared, or is about to disappear, with the advance
of canal irrigation. Dry though the climate is the Bar
was in good seasons a famous grazing area. The scrub
consisted mainly of jand (Prosopis spicigera), jdl (Salva-
dora oleoides), the karil (Capparis aphylla) and the
far ash (Tamarix articulata).
Management and Income of Forests. — The Forest
Department of the Panjab has existed since 1864, when
the first Conservator was appointed. In 1911-12 it
managed 8359 square miles in the Panjab consisting of :
Reserved Forests 1844 square miles
Protected ,, 5203
Unclassed ,, 13 12
It was also in charge of 235 square miles of reserved
forest in the Hazara district of the N.W.F. Province,
and of 364 miles of fine mountain forest in the native
State of Bashahr. In addition a few reserved forests
have been made over as grazing areas to the Military
Department, and Deputy Commissioners are in charge
of a very large area of unclassed forest.
88 FORESTS [ch.
*
No forest can be declared " reserved " or " protected "
unless it is owned in whole or in part by the State. It
is enough if the trees or some of them are the property
of the Government. In order to safeguard all private
rights a special forest settlement must be made before
a forest can be declared to be reserved." In the case
of a protected forest it is enough if Government is satisfied
that the rights of the State and of private persons have
been recorded at a land revenue settlement. After
deducting income belonging to the year 1909-10 realized
in 1910-n, the average income of the two years ending
1911-12 was £81,805 (Rs. 1,227,082) and the average
expenditure £50,954 (Rs. 764,309).
Sources of Income. — In the mountain forests the
chief source of income is the deodar, which is valuable
both for railway sleepers and as building timber. The
blue pine is also of commercial value. Deodar, blue
pine, and some chir are floated down the rivers to depots
in the plains. Firwood is inferior to cedar and pine,
and the great fir forests are too remote for profitable
working at present. There are fine mountain forests
in Chitral, on the Safed Koh, and in Western Wazi'ristan,
but these have so far not even been fully explored. The
value of the hill forests may be increased by the success
which has attended the experimental extraction of
turpentine from the resin of the chir pine. The bamboo
forests of Kangra are profitable. At present an attempt
is being made to acclimatize several species of Eucalyptus
in the low hills. The scrub jangal in the plains yields
good fuel. As the area is constantly shrinking it is
fortunate that the railways have ceased to depend on
this source of supply, coal having to a great extent
taken the place of wood. To prevent shortage of fuel
considerable areas in the tracts commanded by the new
canals are being reserved for irrigated forests. A forest
vii] FORESTS 89
of this class covering an area of 37 square miles and
irrigated from the Upper Bari Doab Canal has long existed
at Changa Manga in the Lahore district.
Forests in Kashmir. — The extensive and valuable
Kashmir forests are mountain and hill forests, the former,
which cover much the larger area yielding, deodar, blue
pine, and firs, and the latter chir pine. The total area
exceeds 2600 square miles.
CHAPTER VIII
BEASTS, BIRDS, FISHES, AND INSECTS
Fauna. — With the spread of cultivation and drainage
the Pan jab plains have ceased to be to anything like
the old extent the haunt of wild beasts and wild fowl.
The lion has long been extinct and the tiger has practically
disappeared. Leopards are to be found in low hills,
and sometimes stray into the plains. Wolves are seen
occasionally, and jackals are very common. The black
buck (Antilope cerricapra) can still be shot in many
places. The graceful little chinkdra or ravine deer
(Gazella Bennetti) is found in sandy tracts, and the
hogdeer or pdrha (Cervus porcinus) near rivers. The
nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) is less common. Monkeys
abound in the hills and in canal-irrigated tracts in the
Eastern districts, where their sacred character protects
them from destruction, though they do much damage
to crops Peafowl are to be seen in certain tracts, especi-
ally in the eastern Panjab. They should not be shot
where the people are Hindus or anywhere near a Hindu
shrine. The great and lesser bustards and several
kinds of sand grouse are to be found in sandy districts.
The grey partridge is everywhere, and the black can
be got near the rivers. The sisi and the chikor are the
partridges of the hills, which are also the home of fine
varieties of pheasants including the mondl. Quail fre-
quent the ripening fields in April and late in September.
Duck of various kinds abound where there are jhils,
and snipe are to be got in marshy ground. The green
ch. vin] BEASTS, BIRDS, FISHES, AND INSECTS 91
parrots, crows, and vultures are familiar sights. Both
the sharp-nosed (Garialis Gangetica, vern. gharidl) and
the blunt-nosed (Crocodilus palustris, vern. magar)
crocodiles haunt the rivers. The fish are tasteless;
the rohu and mahseer are the best. Poisonous snakes
are the karait, the cobra, and Russell's viper. The
first is sometimes an intruder into houses. Lizards
and mongooses are less unwelcome visitors. White ants
attack timber and ruin books, and mosquitoes and sand-
flies add to the unpleasant features of the hot weather.
The best known insect pest is the locust, but visitations
on a large scale are rare. Of late years much more
damage has been done by an insect which harbours
in the cotton bolls.
Game of the Mountains. — If sport in the plains has
ceased to be first rate, it is otherwise in the hills. Some
areas and the heights at which the game is to be found
are noted below :
(a) Goats and goat-antelopes :
Ibex (Capra Sibirica) 10,000-14,000 ft.
Kashmir, Lahul, Bashahr.
Markhor (Capra Falconeri). Kashmir, Astor,
Gilgit, Suliman hills.
Thar (Hemitragus jemlaicus), 9000-14,000
ft. Kashmir, Chamba.
Gural (Cemas goral), 3000-8000 ft. Kash-
mir, Chamba, Simla hills, Bashahr.
Serow (Nemorhaedusbubalinus), 6000-12,000
ft. From Kashmir eastwards.
(b) Sheep :
1. Bharal (Ovis nahura), 10,000-12,000 ft. and
over. Ladakh, Bashahr.
2. Argali (Ovis Ammon). Ladakh.
3. Urial (Ovis Vignei) Salt Range, Suliman
hills.
Fig. 24. Big game in Ladakh.
Key : 1, 3, 7, 9, Chiru or Tibetan Antelope. 2, Argali or Ovis Ammon.
4, 6, 8, Bharal or Ovis nahura. 5, Yak or Bos grunniens.
10, 11, 12, Urial or Ovis Vignei. 13, Bear skin.
ch.viii] BEASTS, BIRDS, FISHES, AND INSECTS 93
(c) Antelopes :
1. Chiru or Tibetan Antelope (Pantholops hodgr
soni). Ladakh.
{d) Oxen — Yak (Bos grunniens). Ladakh. The
domesticated yak is invaluable as a beast of
burden in the Trans-Himalayan tract The
royal fly whisk or chauri is made from pure
white yak tails
Fig. 25. Yaks.
(e) Stag:
1, Barasingha (Gervus Duvanceli). Foot of
Himalaya in Kashmir.
(/) Bears :
1. Red or Brown (Ursus Arctos), 10,000-13,000
ft. Kashmir, Chamba, Bashahr, etc.
94 BEASTS, BIRDS, FISHES, AND INSECTS [ch.
2. Black (Ursus torquatus), 6000-12,000 ft.
Same regions, but at lower elevations.
The small bear of the southern Suliman
hills known as mam is now considered a
variety of the black bear.
(g) Leopards :
1. Snow Leopard (Felis Uncia), 9000-15,000 ft.
Kashmir, Chamba, Bashahr.
2. Ordinary Leopard (Felis Pardus). Lower
hills.
Shooting in Hills
Shooting in Hills. — The finest shooting in the north-
west Himalaya is probably to be got in Ladakh and
Baltistan, but the trip is somewhat expensive and
requires more time than may be available. In many
areas licenses have to be obtained, and the conditions
limit the number of certain animals, and the size of heads,
that may be shot. For example, the permit in Chamba
may allow the shooting of two red bear and two thdr,
and when these have been got the sportsman must
turn his attention to black bear and gural. Any one
contemplating a shooting expedition in the Himalaya
should get from one who has the necessary experience
very complete instructions as to weapons, tents, clothing,
stores, etc.
Sport in the Plains
(a) Black Buck Shooting. — To get a good idea of
what shooting in the plains is like Major Glasford's
Rifle and Romance in the Indian Jungle may be consulted.
As regards larger game the favourite sport is black
buck shooting. A high velocity cordite rifle is dangerous
to the country people, and some rifle firing black powder
should be used. It is well to reach the home of the herd
viii] BEASTS, BIRDS, FISHES, AND INSECTS 95
soon after sunrise while it is still in the open, and not
among the crops. There will usually be one old buck
in each herd. He himself is
not watchful, but his does are,
and the herd gallops off with
great leaps at the first scent
of danger, the does leading and
their lord and master bringing
up the rear. If by dint of
careful and patient stalking
you get to some point of
vantage, say 100 yards from
the big buck, it is worth while
to shoot. Even if the bullet
finds its mark the quarry may
gallop 50 yards before it drops.
Good heads vary from 20" to
24" or even more.
(b) Small game in Plains.
— The cold weather shooting
begins with the advent of the
quail in the end of September
and ends when they reappear among the ripening wheat
in April. The duck arrive from the Central Asian lakes
in November and duck and snipe shooting lasts till
February in districts where there are jhils and swampy
land. For a decent shot 30 couple of snipe is a fair bag.
To get duck the jhil should be visited at dawn and again
in the evening, and it is well to post several guns in
favourable positions in the probable line of flight. 40
or 50 birds would be a good morning's bag. In drier
tracts the bag will consist of partridges and a hare or
two, or, if the country is sandy, some sand-grouse and
perhaps a bustard.
Fig. 26. Black buck.
CHAPTER IX
THE PEOPLE : NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES
Growth of Population. — It is probable that in the 64
years since annexation the population of the Panjab
has increased by from 40 to 50 per cent. The first
reliable census was taken in 1881. The figures for the
four decennial enumerations are :
Year
Panjab
N.W.F.
Province
Kashmir
British
Native
States
Total
1881
1891
1 90 1
1911
17.274.597
19,009,368
20,330,337
19,974.956
3,861,683
4,263,280
4,424,398
4,212,974
21,136,280
23,272,648
24.754.735
24,187,730
1.543.726
1,857,504
2,041,534
2,196,933
2,543.952
2,905,578
3,158,126
Incidence of Population in Panjab. — The estimated
numbers of independent tribes dwelling within the British
sphere of influence is 1,600,000 The incidence of the
population on the total area of the Panjab including
native States is 177 per square mile, which may be
compared with 189 in France and 287 in the British
Isles. As the map shows, the density is reduced by
the large area of semi-desert country in the south-west
and by the mountainous tract in the north-east. The
CH. IX]
THE PEOPLE
97
distribution of the population is the exact opposite of
that which prevails in Great Britain. There are only
174 towns as compared with 44,400 villages, and nearly
nine-tenths of the people are to be found in the latter.
Some of the so-called towns are extremely small, and
nv 100
450-560
K. = Kapurthala. N.=Nabha. J.=Jind.
Fig. 27. Map showing density of population.
the average population per town is but 14,800 souls.
There are no large towns in the European sense. The
biggest, Delhi and Lahore, returned respectively 232,837
and 228,687 persons.
Growth stopped by Plague. — The growth of the popula-
tion between 1881 and 1891 amounted to 10 p.c. Plague,
7
D. P.
98
THE PEOPLE:
[CH.
which has smitten the Panjab more severely than any
other province, appeared in 1896, and its effect was
seen in the lower rate of expansion between 1891 and
1901. Notwithstanding great extensions of irrigation
and cultivation in the RechnarDoab the numbers declined
a s H m 1 R
Decrease — 10 to 25 p.c.
Increase— Under 10 p.c.
IO to 20 p.C. !
Under 10 p.c. lffj
20 to 45 p.c.
Fig. 28. Map showing increase and decrease of population.
by 2 p.c. between 1901 and 191 1. In the ten years
from 1901 to 1910 in the British districts alone over
two million people died of plague and the death-rate
was raised to 12 p.c. above the normal. It actually
exceeded the birth-rate by 2 p.c. Of the total deaths
in the decade nearly one in four was due to plague.
ix] NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES
99
The part which has suffered most is the rich submontane
tract east of the Chenab, Lahore and Gujranwala, and
some of the south-eastern districts. A glance at the
map will show how large the loss of population has been
there. It is by no means entirely due to plague. The
submontane districts were almost over-populated, and
many of their people have emigrated as colonists, tenants,
and labourers to the waste tracts brought under cultivation
by the excavation of the Lower Chenab and Jhelam
canals. The districts which have received very marked
additions of population from this cause are Jhang (21 p.c),
Shahpur (30 p.c), and Lyallpur (45 p.c). Deaths from
plague have greatly increased the deficiency of females,
which has always been a noteworthy feature. In 191 1
the proportion had very nearly fallen to four females for
every five males.
Increase and Incidence in N.W.F. Province. — The
incidence of the population in the area covered by the
five districts of the N.W.F.
Province is 164 per square
mile. The district figures
are given in the map in the
margin. The increase be-
tween 1901 and 1911 in
these districts was *j\ p.c.
There have been no severe
outbreaks of plague like
those which have decimated
the population of some of
the Panjab districts.
General figures for the
territory of the Maharaja
of Kashmir are meaningless. In the huge Indus vallev
the incidence is only 4 persons per sq. mile. In Jammu
and Kashmir it is 138. The map taken from the Census
Fig. 29. Map showing density of
population in N.W.F. Province.
7—2
IOO
THE PEOPLE:
[CH.
Report gives the details. The increase in the decade
was on paper 8| p.c, distributed between 5| in Jammu,
12 in Kashmir, and 14 in
the Indus valley. A great
part of the increase in the
last must be put down to
better enumeration.
Health and duration of
life. — The climate of the
Panjab plains has produced
a vigorous, but not a long-
lived, race. The mean age of
the whole population in the
British districts is only 25.
The normal birth-rate of the
Panjab is about 41 per 1000,
which exceeds the English
rate in the proportion of 5
to 3. In 1910 the recorded
birth-rate in the N.W.F. Province was 38 per 1000.
Till plague appeared the Panjab death-rate averaged
32 or 33 per 1000, or more than double that of England.
The infantile mortality is enormous, and one out of every
four or five children fails to survive its first year. The
death-rate in the N.W.F. Province was 27 per 1000 in
1910. In the ten years ending 1910 plague pushed up
the average death-rate in the Panjab to 43! per 1000.
Even now malarial fever is a far worse foe than plague.
The average annual deaths in the ten years ending 1910
were :
Fig. 30. Map showing density of
population in Kashmir.
Fevers
• • 450,376
Plague
. . 202,522
Other diseases
• • 231,473
Total ,
884,371
ix] NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES 101
Fever is very rife in October and November, and these
are the most unhealthy months in the year, March and
April being the best. The variations under fevers and
plague from year to year are enormous. In 1907 the
latter claimed 608,685 victims, and the provincial death-
rate reached the appalling figure of 61 per 1000 Next
year the plague mortality dropped to 30,708, but there
were 697,058 deaths from fever. There is unfortunately
no reason to believe that plague has spent its force or
that the people as a whole will in the near future generally
accept the protective measures of inoculation and evacua-
tion. Vaccination, the prejudice against which has
largely disappeared, has robbed the small-pox goddess
of many offerings As a general cause of mortality the
effect of cholera in the Pan jab is now insignificant.
But it is still to be feared in the Kashmir valley, especially
in the picturesque but filthy summer capital. Syphilis
is very common in the hill country in the north-east
of the province. Blindness and leprosy are both markedly
on the decrease. Both infirmities are common in Kashmir,
especially the former. The rigours of the climate in
a large part of the State force the people to live day
and night for the seven winter months almost entirely
in dark and smoky huts, and it is small wonder that
their eyesight is ruined.
Occupations. — The Pan jab is preeminently an agri-
cultural country, and the same is true in an almost
greater degree of the N.W.F. Province and Kashmir.
The typical holding is that of the small landowner tilling
from 3 to 10 acres with his own hands with or without
help from village menials. The tenant class is increasing,
but there are still three owners to two tenants. Together
they make up 50 p.c. of the population of the Panjab,
and 5 p.c. is added for farm labourers. Altogether,
according to the census returns 58 p.c. of the population
102 THE PEOPLE: [ch.
depends for its support on the soil, 20-5 on industries,
chiefly the handicrafts of the weaver, potter, leather
worker, carpenter, and blacksmith, 9-4 on trade, 2-5 on
professions, and 9-6 on other sources of livelihood.
Measures taken to protect agriculturists. — In a country
owned so largely by small farmers, the first task of the
Government must be to secure their welfare and content-
ment. Before plague laid its grasp on the rich central
districts it was feared that they were becoming congested,
and the canal colonization schemes referred to in a later
chapter were largely designed to relieve them. But there
is a much subtler foe to whose insidious attacks small
owners are liable, the temptation to abuse their credit
till their acres are loaded with mortgages and finally
lost. So threatening had this economic disease for
years appeared that at last in 1900 the Panjab Alienation
of Land Act was passed, which forbade sales by people
of agricultural tribes to other classes without the sanction
of the district officer, and greatly restricted the power
of mortgaging. The same restrictions are in force in
the N.W.F. Province. The Act is popular with those
for whose benefit it was devised, and has effected its
object of checking land alienation and probably to some
extent discouraged extravagance. It has been supple-
mented by a still more valuable measure, the Cooperative
Credit Societies Act. The growth of these societies
in the Panjab has been very remarkable, a notable
contrast to the very slow advance of the similar movement
in England. In 1913-14 there were 3261 village banks
with 155,250 members and a working capital of 133! lakhs
or £885,149, besides 38 central banks with a capital of
42 1 lakhs or about £285,000. Village banks held deposits
amounting to nearly 37 lakhs, more than half of which
was received from non-members, and lent out y\\ lakhs
in the year to their members.
ix] NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES 103
Tribal Composition. — Table I based on the Census
returns shows the percentages of the 'total population
belonging to the chief tribes. The classification into
" land-holding, etc." is a rough one
Fig- 31- Jat Sikh Officers (father and sorO.
Jats. — The Panjab is par excellence the home of
the Jats. Everywhere in the plains, except in the
extreme north-west corner of the province, they form
104 THE PEOPLE: [ch.
a large element in the population. In the east they are
Hindus, in the centre Sikhs and Muhammadans, and in
the west Muhammadans. The Jat is a typical son of
the soil, strong and sturdy, hardworking and brave,
a fine soldier and an excellent farmer, but slow-witted
and grasping. The Sikh Jat finds an honourable outlet
for his overflowing energy in the army and in the service
of the Crown beyond the bounds of India. When he
misses that he sometimes takes to dacoity. Unfortunately
he is often given to strong drink, and, when his passions
or his greed are aroused, can be exceedingly brutal.
Jat in the Western Panjab is applied to a large number
of tribes, whose ethnical affinities are somewhat dubious.
Rajputs. — Rajputs are found in considerable numbers
all over the province except in a few of the western
and south-western districts. As farmers they are much
hampered by caste rules which forbid the employment
of their women in the fields, and the prohibition of widow
remarriage is a severe handicap. They are generally
classed as poor cultivators, and this is usually, but by
no means universally, a true description. The Dogra
Rajputs of the low hills are good soldiers. They are
numerous in Kangra and in the Jammu province of
Kashmir.
Brahmans. — The Brahmans of the eastern plains and
north-eastern hills are mostly agriculturists, and the Mutual
Brahman of the north-western districts is a landowner and
a soldier. In the hills the Brahman is often a shopkeeper.
The priestly Brahman is found everywhere, but his spiritual
authority has always been far less in the Panjab than in
most parts of India.
Biluches. — When the frontier was separated off the
Biluch district of Dera Ghazi Khan with its strong tribal
organization under chiefs or tumanddrs was left in the
Panjab. The Biluches are a frank, manly, truthful
ix] NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES 105
race, free from fanaticism and ready as a rule to follow
their chiefs. They are fine horsemen. Unfortunately
it is difficult to get them to enlist.
Pathans. — Both politically and numerically the Pathans
are the predominant tribe in the N.W.F. Province, and
are of importance in parts of the Pan jab districts of Attock
and Mianwali. The Pathan is a democrat and often
a fanatic, more under the influence of mullahs than of
the maliks or headmen of his tribe. He has not the
frank straightforward nature of the Biluch, is untiring
in pursuit of revenge, and is not free from cruelty. But,
when he has eaten the Sarkdr's salt, he is a very brave and
dashing soldier, and he is a faithful host to anyone whom
he has admitted under his roof.
Awans. — The home of the Awan in the Panjab is
the Salt Range and the parts of Attock and Mianwali,
lying to the north of it, and this tract of country is known
as the Awankarf. In the N.W.F. Province they are, after
the Pathans, by far the largest tribe, and are specially
numerous in Peshawar and Hazara.
Shekhs. — Of the Shekhs about half are Kureshis,
Sadikis, and Ansaris of foreign origin and high social
standing. The rest are new converts to Islam, often
of the sweeper caste originally.
Saiyyids. — Saiyyids are unsatisfactory landowners, and
are kept going by the offerings of their followers. They
are mostly Shias. It is not necessary to believe that
they are all descended from the Prophet's son-in-law, Ali.
A native proverb with pardonable exaggeration says :
" The first year I was a weaver (Julaha), the next year a
Shekh. This year, if prices rise, I shall be a Saiyyid."
Trading Castes. — Aroras are the traders of the S.W.
Panjab and of the N.W.F. Province. They share the
Central Panjab with the Khatris, who predominate in the
north-western districts. The Khatri of the Rawalpindi
106 THE PEOPLE: [ch.
division is often a landowner and a first-class fighting
man. Some of our strongest Indian civil officials have
been Aroras. In the Delhi division the place of the
Arora and Khatri is taken by the Bania, and in Kangra
by the Slid or the Brahman. Khojas and Parachas are
Muhammadan traders.
Artizans and Menials. — Among artizans and menials
Sunars (goldsmiths), Rajes (masons), Lohars (black-
smiths), and Tarkhans (carpenters) take the first rank.
Impure Castes. — The vast majority of the impure
castes, the " untouchables ,: of the Hindu religion,
are scavengers and workers in leather. The sweeper
who embraces Islam becomes a Musalli. The Sikh
Mazhbis, who are the descendants of sweeper converts,
have done excellent service in our Pioneer regiments.
The Hindu of the Pan jab in his avoidance of " untouch-
ables ' has never gone to the absurd lengths of the
high caste Madras!, and the tendency is towards a relaxa-
tion of existing restrictions.
Mendicants. — Men of religion living on charity, wander-
ing fakirs, are common sights, and beggars are met with
in the cities, who sometimes exhibit their deformities
with unnecessary insistence.
Kashmiris. — According to the census return the number
of Kashmiri Musulmans, who make up 60 p.c. of the
inhabitants of the Jhelam valley, was 765,442. They
are no doubt mostly descendants of various Hindu
castes, perhaps in the main of Hill Brahmans, but Islam
has wiped out all tribal distinctions. Sir Walter Lawrence
wrote of them : " The Kashmiri is unchanged in spite
of the splendid Moghal, the brutal Afghan, and the
bully Sikh. Warriors and statesmen came and went ;
but there was no egress, and no wish .... in normal times
to leave their homes. The outside world was far, and
from all accounts inferior to the pleasant valley .... So
ix] NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES 107
the Kashmiris lived their self-centred life, conceited,
clever, and conservative."
The Hindu Kashmiri Pandits numbered 55,276.
Tribes of Jammu. — Agricultural Brahmans are nume-
rous in the Jammu province. Thakkars and Meghs
are important elements of the population of the outer
hills. The former are no doubt by origin Rajputs, but
Fig. 32. Blind Beggar.
they have cast off many Rajput customs. The Meghs
are engaged in weaving and agriculture, and are regarded
as more or less impure by the higher castes.
Giijars. — Gujars in the Maharaja's territories are
almost always graziers. In 191 1 they numbered 328,003.
Dard Tribes of Astor and Gilgit. — The people of Astor
and Gilgit are Dards speaking Shina and professing
Islam. Sir Aurel Stein wrote of them : ' The Dard
io8
THE PEOPLE
[CH.
race which inhabits the valleys N. of (the Inner
Himalaya) as far as the Hindu Kush is separated from
the Kashmiri population by language as well as by
physical characteristics .... There is little in the Dard
to enlist the sympathies of the casual observer. He
lacks the intelligence, humour, and fine physique of
the Kashmiri, and, though undoubtedly far braver than
the latter, has none of the independent spirit and manly
HHHHHnBHHKffiHHHHHHHIHHHHHHKQHHfflHIiHHBKSNBBBB&BBHHBZB
Fig. 33. Dards.
bearing which draw us towards the Pathan despite
all his failings. But I can never see a Dard without
thinking of the thousands of years of struggle they
have carried on with the harsh climate and the barren
soil of their mountains1."
Kanjutis. — The origin of the Kanj litis of Hunza
is uncertain, and so are the relationships of their language.
1 Sand Buried Ruins of Khotan, pp. 14 — 15.
ix] NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES 109
Mongoloid Population of Ladakh. — The population of
Ladakh and Baltistan is Mongoloid, but the Baltis
(72,439) have accepted Islam and polygamy, while the
Ladakhis have adhered to Buddhism and polyandry.
Ethnological theories. — In The People of India the
late Sir Herbert Risley maintained that the inhabitants
of Rajputana, nearly the whole of the Panjab, and a
ajputana
.(part of)
•s..i
■■•::.....,;&.
Turko-Iranian ^ Indo-Aryan
Scytho-Dravidian
Dravidian
Aryo-Dravidian f,:Wk#.
Mongoloid
Fig. 34. Map showing races.
large part of Kashmir, whatever their caste or social
status, belonged with few exceptions to a single racial
type, which he called Indo-Aryan. The Biluches of
Dera Ghazi Khan and the Pathans of the N.W.F.
Province formed part of another group which he called
Turko-Iranian. The people of a strip of territory on
no THE PEOPLE: [ch.
the west of the Jamna he held to be of the same type
as the bulk of the inhabitants of the United Provinces,
and this type he called Aryo-Dravidian. Finally the
races occupying the hills in the north-east and the
adjoining part of Kashmir were of Mongol extraction,
a fact which no one will dispute. Of the Indo-Aryan
type Sir Herbert Risley wrote : " The stature is mostly
tall, complexion fair, eyes dark, hair on face plentiful,
head long, nose narrow and prominent, but not specially
long." He believed that the Panjab was occupied
by Aryans, who came into the country from the west
or north-west with their wives and children, and had
no need to contract marriages with the earlier inhabitants.
The Aryo-Dravidians of the United Provinces resulted
from a second invasion or invasions, in which the Aryan
warriors came alone and had to intermarry with the
daughters of the land, belonging to the race which forms
the staple of the population of Central India and Madras.
This theory was based on measurements of heads and
noses, and it seems probable that deductions drawn
from these physical characters are of more value than
any evidence based on the use of a common speech.
But it is hard to reconcile the theory with the facts of
history even in the imperfect shape in which they have
come down to us, or to believe that Sakas, Yuechi, and
White Huns (see historical section) have left no traces
of their blood in the province. If such there are, they
may perhaps be found in some of the tribes on both sides
of the Salt Range, such as Gakkhars, Janjuas, A wans,
Tiwanas, Ghebas, and Johdras, who are tine horsemen
and expert tent-peggers, not ' ' tall heavy men without
any natural aptitude for horsemanship," as Sir Herbert
Risley described his typical Panjabi (p. 59 of his book).
Languages. — In the area dealt with in this book
no less than eleven languages are spoken, and the dialects
ix] NUMBERS, RACES AND LANGUAGES in
are very numerous. It is only possible to tabulate
the languages and indicate on the map the localities
i . Tibeto-Chinese
4. Kashmiri | | 5. Pahari
2. Pashtu V/,
6. Lahndi ^
3. Biluchi****
7. sindhf 777777
8. Panjabi
11. Shina-Khowar
9. W. Hindi |*||||j 10. Rajasthani mHjjf]
;•■ K. Kapiirthala. N. Nahan. F. Faridkot.
Fig. 35. Map showing distribution of languages.
in which they are spoken. For the Panjab the figures of
the recent census are :
A 1. Tibeto-Chinese
41,607
112
THE PEOPLE:
[CH.
B.
Aryan :
(a) Iranian :
2.
3-
4-
Pashtu . .
Biluchi . .
Kohistani
67,174
70,675
26
(b) Indian :
5-
6.
7-
8.
Kashmiri
Pahari . .
Lahndi . .
Sindhi . .
7,190
993,363
• 4,253,566
24
9
10.
Panjabi . .
Western Hindi
. 14,111,215
3,826,467
11.
Rajasthani
725,850
The eastern part of the Indus valley in Kashmir
forming the provinces of Ladakh and Baltistan is occupied
by a Mongol population speaking Tibet o- Chinese dialects.
Kashmiri is the language of Kashmir Proper, and various
dialects of the Shina-Khowar group comprehensively
described as Kohistani are spoken in Astor, Gilgit, and
Chilas, and to the west of Kashmir territory in Chitral
and the Kohistan or mountainous country at the top
of the Swat river valley. Though Kashmiri and the
Shina-Khowar tongues belong to the Aryan group,
their basis is supposed to be non-Sanskritic, and it is
held that there is a strong non-Sanskritic or Pisacha
element also in Lahndi or western Panjabi, which is
also the prevailing speech in the Hazara and Dera Ismail
Khan districts of the N.W.F. Province, and is spoken
in part of the Jammu province of Kashmir. Pashtu
is the common language in Peshawar, Kohat, and Bannu,
and is spoken on the western frontiers of Hazara and
Dera Ismail Khan, and in the independent tribal territory
in the west between the districts of the N.W.F. Province
and the Durand Line and immediately adjoining the
Peshawar district on the north. Rajasthani is a collective
name for the dialects of Rajputana, which overflow
ix] NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES 113
into the Panjab, occupying a strip along the southern
frontier from Bahawalpur to Gurgaon. The infiltration
of English words and phrases into the languages of the
province is a useful process and as inevitable as was
the enrichment of the old English speech by Norman-
French. But for the present the results are apt to sound
grotesque, when the traveller, who expects a train to
start at the appointed time, is told : " tren late hai,
lekin singal down ho gay a ' (the train is late, but the
signal has been lowered), or the criticism is passed on a
popular officer : " bahut affable hai, lekin hand shake
nahin kartd " (very affable, but doesn't shake hands).
d. p.
CHAPTER X
the people (continued) : religions
Religions in N.W.F. Province. — In the N.W.F. Province
an overwhelming majority of the population professes
Islam. In 1911 there were 2,039,994 Musalmans as
compared with 119,942 Hindus, 30,345 Sikhs, and 6585
Christians.
Religions in Kashmir. — In Kashmir the preponderance
of Muhammadans is not so overwhelming. The figures
are :
Muhammadans . . . . 2,398,320
Hindus . . . . . . 690,390
Buddhists . . . . . . 36,512
Sikhs 31.553
The Hindus belong mostly to the Jammu province,
where nearly half of the population professes that faith.
The people of Kashmir, Baltistan, Astor and Gilgit,
Chilas and Hunza Nagar, are Musalmans. The Ladakhis
are Buddhists.
Religions in Pan jab. — The distribution by religions
of the population of the Panjab and its native States
in 1911 was :
Muhammadans . . . . . . 12,275,477 or 51 p.c.
Hindus . . . . . . . . 8,773,621 or 36 p.c.
Sikhs 2,883,729 or 12 p.c.
Others, chiefly Christian (199,751) 254,923 or 1 p.c.
CH. X]
THE PEOPLE: RELIGIONS
ii5
The strength of the Muhammadans is in the districts
west of the Bias and the Sutlej below its junction with
the Bias. 83 p.c. of the subjects of the Nawab of Baha-
walpur are also Muhammadans. In all this western
region there are few Hindus apart from the shopkeepers
and traders. On the other hand the hill country in the
H M I
Muhammadan. Above 80 p.c. I 60-80 p.c. I
75-9o p.3. W$$\ 50-75 p.c. I
Hindu. Above 90 p.c.
Sikh. 20 — 43 p.c. |
Fig. 36. Map showing distribution of religions.
north-east is purely Hindu, except on the borders of
Tibet, where the scanty population professes Buddhism.
While Hinduism is the predominant faith in the south-
east, quite a fourth of the people there are Musalmans.
Sikhs nowhere form a majority. The districts in the
8—2
n6
THE PEOPLE: RELIGIONS
[CH.
eastern part of the Central Plains where they constitute
more than one-fifth of the population are indicated
the map. In six districts, Lahore, Montgomery,
in
Gujranwala, Lyallpur, Hoshyarpur, and Ambala the
proportion is between 10 and 20 p.c.
1
l\ 1
1
•
» . £
if
.:■'■
Fig. 37. Raghunath Temple, Jammu.
Growth and Decline in numbers. — There was a slight
rise in the number of Muhammadans between 1901 and
191 1. Their losses in the central districts, where the
plague scourge has been heaviest, were counterbalanced
by gains in the western tract, where its effect has been
slight. On the other hand the decrease under Hindus
x] THE PEOPLE: RELIGIONS 117
amounts to nearly 15 p.c. The birth-rate is lower and
the death-rate higher among Hindus than among Musal-
mans, and their losses by plague in the central and
some of the south-eastern districts have been very heavy.
A change of sentiment on the part of the Sikh community
has led to many persons recording themselves as Sikhs
who were formerly content to be regarded as Hindus.
It must be remembered that one out of four of the recorded
Fig. 38. Golden Temple, Amritsar.
Hindus belongs to impure castes, who even in the Pan jab
pollute food and water by their touch and are excluded
from the larger temples. Since 1901 a considerable
number of Chuhras or Sweepers have been converted
to Islam and Christianity.
Sikhs. — Notwithstanding heavy losses by plague Sikhs
have increased by 37 p.c. A great access of zeal has led
to many more Sikhs becoming Kesdhdris. Sajhdhdris or
n8
THE PEOPLE: RELIGIONS
[CH.
Munas, who form over one-fifth of the whole Sikh
community, were in 1901 classed as Hindus. They are
followers of Baba Nanak, cut their hair, and often smoke.
When a man has taken the " pahul," which is the sign
of his becoming a Kesdhdri or follower of Guru Govind,
he must give up the hukka and leave his hair unshorn.
The future of Sikhism is with the Kesdhdris.
Fig. 39. Mosque in Lahore City.
Muhammadans. — In the eastern districts the conver-
sions to Islam were political, and Hindu and Muhammadan
Rajputs live peaceably together in the same village.
The Musalmans have their mosque for the worship of
Allah, but were, and are still, not quite sure that it
is prudent wholly to neglect the godlings. The conversion
of the western Pan jab was the result largely of missionary
effort. Piri muridi is a great institution there. Every
man should be the " murid " or pupil of some holy man
x] THE PEOPLE: RELIGIONS 119
or pir, who combines the functions in the Roman Catholic
Church of spiritual director in this world and the saint
in heaven. The pir may be the custodian of some little
saint's tomb in a village, or of some great shrine like that
of Baba Farid at Pakpattan, or Bahawal Hakk at Multan,
or Taunsa Sharif in Dera Ghazi Khan, or Golra in Rawal-
pindi. His own holiness may be more official than
personal. About 1400 a.d. the Kashmiris were offered
by their Sultan Sikandar the choice between conversion
and exile, and chose the easier alternative. Like the
western Panjabis they are above all things saint-wor-
shippers. The ejaculations used to stimulate effort
show this. The embankment builder in the south-western
Pan jab invokes the holy breath of Bahawal Hakk, and
the Kashmiri boatman's cry " Ya Pir, dast gir," " Oh
Saint, lend me a hand," is an appeal to their national
saint.
Effect of Education.— The Musalmans of the western
Pan jab have a great dislike to Sikhs, dating from the
period of the political predominance of the latter. So
far the result of education has been to accentuate religious
differences and animosities. Both Sikhs and Musalmans
are gradually dropping ideas and observances retained
in their daily life after they ceased to call themselves
Hindus. On the other hand, within the Hindu fold
laxity is now the rule rather than the exception, and
the neglect of the old ritual and restrictions is by no
means confined to the small but influential reforming
minority which calls itself Arya Samaj.
Christians. — The number of Christians increased three-
fold between 1901 and 1911. The Presbyterian mission-
aries have been especially successful in attracting large
numbers of outcastes into the Christian Church.
Hinduism in the Panjab. — Hinduism has always been,
and to-day is more than ever, a very elastic term. The
120
THE PEOPLE: RELIGIONS
[CH.
Census Superintendent, himself a high caste Hindu,
wrote ': ' The definition which would cover the Hindu
of the modern times is that he should be born of parents
not belonging to some recognised religion other than
Hinduism, marry within the same limits, believe in God,
respect the cow, and cremate the dead." There is room
in its ample folds for the Arya Samajist, who rejects
Fig. 40. God and Goddess, Chamba.
idol worship and is divesting himself of caste prejudices
and marriage restrictions, and the most Orthodox Sanatan
dharmist, who carries out the whole elaborate daily ritual
of the Brahmanical religion, and submits to all its com-
plicated rules; for the ordinary Hindu trader, who is
equally orthodox by profession, but whose ordinary
religious exercises are confined to bathing in the morning ;
for the villager of the eastern districts, who often has
x]
THE PEOPLE: RELIGIONS
121
the name of Parameshvar or the Supreme Lord on his
lips, but who really worships the godlings, Guga Pir,
Sarwar or Sultan Pir, Sitla (the small-pox goddess),
and others, whose little shrines we see round the village
Fig. 41. A Kulu godling and his attendants.
site; and for the childish idolaters of Kulu, who carry
their local deities about to visit each other at fairs, and
would see nothing absurd in locking them all up in a
dungeon if rain held off too long.
CHAPTER XI
the people (continued) : education
Educational progress. — According to the census returns
of 1911 there are not four persons per 100 in the province
who are " literate " in the sense of being able to read
and write a letter. The proportion of literacy among
Hindus and Sikhs is three times as great as among Muham-
madans. In 1911-12 one boy in six of school-going age
was at school or college and one girl in 37, This may
seem a meagre result of sixty years of work, for the
Government and Christian missionaries, who have had
an honourable connection with the educational history
of the province, began their efforts soon after annexation,
and a Director of Public Instruction was appointed as
long ago as 1856. But a country of small peasant
farmers is not a very hopeful educational field, and the
rural population was for long indifferent or hostile.
If an ex-soldier of the Khdlsa had expressed his feelings,
he would have used words like those of the " Old Pindari ".
in Lyall's poem, while the Muhammadan farmer, had he
been capable of expressing his hostility, might have
argued that the teaching his son could get in a village
school would help him not at all in his daily work. Things
are better now. We have improved our scheme of teach-
ing, and of late raised the pay of the teachers, which is,
however, still hardly adequate. Till a better class of
teachers can be secured for primary schools, the best
ch. xi] THE PEOPLE: EDUCATION 123
educational theories will not bear fruit in practice. The
old indifference is weakening, and the most hopeful
sign is the increasing interest taken in towns in female
education, a matter of the first importance for the future
of the country.
Present position. — The present position is as follows : —
The Government has made itself directly or indirectly
responsible for the education of the province. At the
headquarters of each district there is a high school for
boys controlled by the Education Department. In each
district there are Government middle schools, Anglo-
vernacular or Vernacular, and primary schools, managed
by the Municipal Committees and District Boards. Each
middle school has a primary, and each high school a
primary and a middle, department. For the convenience
of pupils who cannot attend school while living at home
hostels are attached to many middle and high schools.
Fees are very moderate. In middle schools, where the
income covers 56 p.c. of the expenditure, they range
from R. 1 (16 pence) monthly in the lowest class in
which they are levied to Rs. 4 (5 shillings) in the highest
class. In rural primary schools the children of agri-
culturists are exempt because they pay local rate, and
others, when not exempt on the score of poverty, pay
nominal fees. Besides the Government schools there are
aided schools of the above classes usually of a sectarian
character, and these, if they satisfy the standards laid
down, receive grants. There is a decreasing, but still
considerable, class of private schools, which make no
attempt to satisfy the conditions attached to these grants.
The mullah in the mosque teaches children passages of
the Kuran by rote, or the shopkeeper's son is taught
in a Mahajani school native arithmetic and the curious
script in which accounts are kept. A boys' school of a
special kind is the Panjab Chiefs' College at Lahore,
124
THE PEOPLE: EDUCATION
[CH.
intended for the sons of princes and men of high social
position.
Technical Schools. — In an agricultural country like
the Panjab there is not at present any large field for
technical schools. The best are the Mayo School of
Art and the Railway Technical School at Lahore. The
latter is successful because its pupils can readily find
employment in the railway workshops. Mr Kipling,
Fig. 42. A School in the time preceding annexation.
(From a picture book said to have been prepared for the
Maharaja Dalip Singh.)
the father of the poet, when principal of the former,
did much for art teaching, and the present principal,
Bhai Ram Singh, is a true artist. The Government
Engineering School has recently been remodelled and
removed to Rasul, where the head-works of the Lower
Jhelam canal are situated.
Female Education. — Female education is still a tender
plant, but of late growth has been vigorous. The Victoria
xi] THE PEOPLE: EDUCATION 125
May School in Lahore founded in 1908 has developed
into the Queen Mary College, which provides an excellent
education for girls of what may be called the upper middle
class. There is a separate class for married ladies.
Hitherto they have only been reached by the teaching
given in their own homes by missionary ladies, whose
useful work is now being imitated by the Hindu community
in Lahore. There is an excellent Hindu Girls' Boarding
School in Jalandhar. The Sikhs and the body of reformers
known as the Dev Samaj have good girls' schools at
Ferozepore. The best mission schools are the Kinnaird
High School at Lahore and the Alexandra School at
Amritsar. The North India School of Medicine for
Women at Ludhiana, also a missionary institution,
does admirable work. In the case of elementary schools
the difficulty of getting qualified teachers is even greater
than as regards boys' schools.
Education of European Children. — There are special
arrangements for the education of European and Anglo-
Indian children. In this department the Roman Catholics
have been active and successful. The best schools are
the Lawrence Asylum at Sanawar, Bishop Cotton's
School, Auckland House, and St Bede's at Simla, St
Denys', the Lawrence Asylum, and the Convent School
at Murree.
The Panjab University. — The Panjab University was
constituted in 1882, but the Government Arts College
and Oriental College, the Medical College and the Law
School at Lahore, which are affiliated with it, are of
older date. The University is an examining body like
London University. Besides the two Arts Colleges
under Government management mentioned above there
are nine private Arts Colleges aided by Government
grants and affiliated to the University. Four of these
are in Lahore, two, the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic and
126 THE PEOPLE : EDUCATION [ch. xi
the Dial Singh Colleges, are Hindu institutions, one, the
Islamia College, is Muhammadan, the fourth is the
popular and efficient Forman Christian College. Four
out of five art students read in Lahore. Of the Arts
colleges outside Lahore the most important is the St
Stephen's College at Delhi. The Khalsa School and
College at Amritsar is a Sikh institution. The Veterinary-
College at Lahore is the best of its kind in India, and
the Agricultural College at Lyallpur is a well-equipped
institution, which at present attracts few pupils, but
may play a very useful role in the future. There is
little force in the reproach that we built up a super-
structure of higher education before laying a broad
foundation of primary education. There is more in
the charge that the higher educational food we have
offered has not been well adapted to the intellectual
digestions of the recipients.
Education in N.W.F. Province, Native States, and
Kashmir. — The Panjab Native States and Kashmir are
much more backward as regards education than the
British Province. As is natural in a tract in which
the population is overwhelmingly Musalman by religion
and farming by trade the N.W.F. Province lags behind
the Panjab. Six colleges in the States and the N.W.F.
Province are affiliated to the Panjab University.
CHAPTER XII
ROADS AND RAILWAYS
Roads. — The alignment of good roads in the plains
of the Panjab is easy, and the deposits of calcareous
nodules or kankar often found near the surface furnish
good metalling material. In the west the rainfall is
so scanty and in many parts wheeled traffic so rare
that it is often wise to leave the roads unmetalled. There
are in the Panjab over 2000 miles of metalled, and above
20,000 miles of unmetalled roads. The greatest highway
in the world, the Grand Trunk, which starts from Calcutta
and ends at Peshawar, passes through the province
from Delhi in the south-east to Attock in the extreme
north-west corner, and there crosses the Indus and enters
the N.W.F. Province. The greater part of the section
from Karnal to Lahore had been completed some years
before the Mutiny, that from Lahore to Peshawar was
finished in 1863-64. A great loop road connects our
arsenal at Ferozepore with the Grand Trunk Road at
Lahore and Ludhiana. The fine metalled roads from
Ambala to Kalka, and Kalka to Simla have lost much of
their importance since the railway was brought to the hill
capital. Beyond Simla the Kalka-Simla road is carried
on for 150 miles to the Shipki Pass on the borders of Tibet,
being maintained as a very excellent hill road adapted
to mule carriage. A fine tonga road partly in the plains
and partly in the hills joins Murree with Rawalpindi.
128
ROADS AND RAILWAYS
[CH.
From Murree it drops into the Jhelam valley crossing
the river and entering Kashmir at Kohala. It is carried
up the gorge of the Jhelam to Baramula and thence
through the Kashmir valley to Srinagar. A motor-car
can be driven all the way from Rawalpindi to Srinagar.
In the N.W.F. Province a great metalled road connects
Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, and Dera Ismail Khan.
Fig. 43. Poplar lined road to Srinagar.
Railways. Main Lines. — It is just over fifty years
since the first railway, a short line joining Lahore and
Amritsar, was opened in 1862. Three years later Lahore
was linked up with Multan and the small steamers which
then plied on the Indus. Amritsar was connected with
Delhi in 1870, and Lahore with Peshawar in 1883. The
XII]
ROADS AND RAILWAYS
129
line from Peshawar to Lahore, and branching thence
to Karachi and Delhi may be considered the Trunk
Line. The railway service has been enormously developed
in the past thirty years. In 1912 there were over 4000
C
o
.c
</)
a,
s
miles of open lines. There are now three routes from
Delhi to Lahore :
(a) The N.W. Railway via Meerut and Saharanpur
D. p.
130 ROADS AND RAILWAYS [ch.
(on east of Jamna), and Ambala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar,
Amritsar ;
(b) The Southern Panjab Railway via Jind, Rohtak,
Bhatinda, and Ferozepore ;
(c) The Delhi-Ambala-Kalka branch of the East
Indian Railway from Delhi through Karnal to Ambala,
and thence by the N.W. Railway. This is the shortest
route.
The Southern Panjab Railway also connects Delhi
with Karachi through its junction with the N.W. Railway
at Samasata to the south of Bahawalpur. Another
route is by a line passing through Rewari and the Merta
junction Karachi is the natural seaport of the central
and western Panjab. The S.P Railway now gives an
easy connection with Ferozepore and Ludhiana, and the
enormous export of wheat, cotton, etc. from the new
canal colonies is carried by several lines which converge
at Khanewal, a junction on the main line, a little north
of Multan.
Railways. Minor Lines. — The Sind Sagar branch
starting from Lala Musa between Lahore and Amritsar
with smaller lines taking off further north at Golra and
Campbellpur serves the part of the province lying north
of the Salt Range. These lines converge at Kundian
in the Mianwali district, and a single line runs thence
southwards to points on the Indus opposite Dera Ismail
Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan, and turning eastwards
rejoins the trunk line at Sher Shah near Multan, There
are a number of branch lines in the plains, some owned
by native States. Strategically a very important one
is that which crossing the Indus by the Khushalgarh
bridge unites Rawalpindi with Kohat. The only hill
railway is that from Kalka to Simla. A second is now
under construction which, when completed, will connect
Rawalpindi with Srinagar. All these lines with the
xii] ROADS AND RAILWAYS 131
exception of the branch of the E.I. Railway mentioned
above are worked by the staff of the N W. State Railway,
whose manager controls inside and outside the Panjab
some 5000 miles of open line. The interest earned in
1912 was 4! p.c, a good return when it is considered
that the parts of the system to the north of the Salt
Range and the Sind Sagar railway were built primarily
for strategic reasons.
9—2
CHAPTER XIII
CANALS
Importance of Canals.- — One need have no hesitation
in placing among the greatest achievements of British
rule in the Pan jab the magnificent system of irrigation
canals which it has given to the province. Its great
alluvial plain traversed by large rivers drawing an
unfailing supply of water from the Himalayan snows
affords an ideal field for the labours of the canal engineer.
The vastness of the arid areas which without irrigation
yield no crops at all or only cheap millets and pulses
makes his works of inestimable benefit to the people
and a source of revenue to the State.
Canals before annexation. — In the west of the province
we found in existence small inundation canals dug by
the people with some help from their rulers. These
only ran during the monsoon season, when the rivers
were swollen. In 1626 Shahjahan's Persian engineer,
Ali Mardan Khan, brought to Delhi the water of the
canal dug by Firoz Shah as a monsoon channel and made
perennial by Akbar. But during the paralysis of the
central power in the eighteenth century the channels
became silted up. The same able engineer dug a canal
from the Ravi near Madhopur to water the royal gardens
at Lahore. What remained of this work at annexation
was known as the Hasli.
Extent of Canal Irrigation.— In 1911-12, when the
deficiency of the rainfall made the demand for water
CH. XIII]
CANALS
133
keen, the canals of the Panjab and the N.W.F. Province
irrigated 8| millions of acres. The figures are :
Panjab
A. Permanent Canals
Acres Interest earned %
1. Western Jamna
775,450
n3
7i
2. Sirhind
1,609,458
8
3. Upper Bar! Doab
1,156,808
"J
4. Lower Chenab
2,334.09o
34
5. Lower Jhelam
801,649
io£
B. Monsoon Canals
1.654.437
Total
8,331.892
N.W. Frontier Province
Acres
Interest earned %
Lower Swat River
157.050
9|
Two minor Canals
67.510
Total
225,160
On the Sirhind Canal, on which the demand fluctuates
greatly with the character of the season, the area was
twice the normal. The three canals of the Triple Project
will, when fully developed, add 1,871,000 acres to the
irrigated area of the Panjab, and the Upper Swat Canal
will increase that of the N.W.F. Province by 381,000
acres. The canals will therefore in a year of drought
be able to water over ten millions of acres without
taking account of possible extensions if a second canal
should be drawn from the Sutlej. The money spent
from imperial funds on Panjab canals has exceeded
twelve millions sterling, and no money has ever been
better spent. In 1910-11, when the area irrigated was
a good deal less than in 1911-12, the value of the crops
raised by the use of canal water was estimated at about
207 millions of rupees or nearly £14,000,000. It is only
possible to note very briefly the steps by which this
remarkable result has been achieved.
20 0
i
Scale
40
native States
Fig. 45. Map — Older Canals.
ch. xni] CANALS 135
Western Jamna Canal. — Soon after the assumption of
authority at Delhi in 1803 the question of the old Canal
from the Jamna was taken up. The Delhi Branch was
reopened in 1819, and the Hansi Branch six years later.
In the famine year 1837-38 nearly 400,000 acres were
irrigated. For more than half a century that figure
represented the irrigating capacity of the canal. The
English engineers in the main retained the faulty Moghal
alignment, and waterlogging of the worst description
developed. The effect on the health of the people was
appalling. After long delay the canal was remodelled.
The result has been most satisfactory in every way.
In the last decade of the nineteenth century the Sirsa
Branch and the Nardak Distributary were added, to carry
water to parts of the Karnal and Hissar districts where
any failure of the monsoon resulted in widespread loss
of crops. If a scheme to increase the supply can be
carried out, further extension in tracts now very liable
to famine will become possible. In the six years ending
1910-11 the interest earned exceeded 8 p.c.
Upper Bari Doab Canal. — The headworks of the
Upper Bari Doab Canal are above Madhopur near the
point where the Ravi leaves the hills. The work was
started soon after annexation, but only finished in 1859.
Irrigation has grown from 90,000 acres in 1860-61 to
533,000 in 1880-81, 861,000 in 1900-1, and 1,157,000
in 1911-12. The later history of the canal consists
mainly of great extensions in the arid Lahore district,
and the irrigation there is now three-fifths of the whole.
In parts of Amritsar, and markedly near the city, water-
logging has become a grave evil, but remedial measures
have now been undertaken. The interest earned on
the capital expenditure in the six years ending 1910-11
averaged n| p.c.
Sirhind Canal. — A quarter of a century passed after
136 CANALS [ch.
the Upper Bari Doab Canal began working before
the water of the Sutlej was used for irrigation. The
Sirhind Canal weir is at Rupar where the river emerges
from the Siwaliks. Patiala, Jind, and Nabha contri-
buted to the cost, and own three of the five branches.
But the two British branches are entitled to nearly
two-thirds of the water, which is utilized in the Ludhiana
and Ferozepore districts and in the Faridkot State.
The soil of the tract commanded is for the most part
a light sandy loam, and in years of good rainfall it repays
dry cultivation. The result is that the area watered
fluctuates largely. But in the six years ending 1910-n
the interest earned averaged 7 p.c, and the power of
expansion in a bad year is a great boon to the peasantry.
Canal extensions in Western Panjab. — In the last
quarter of a century the chief task of the Canal Depart-
ment in the Panjab has been the extension of irrigation to
the Rechna and Jech Doabs and the lower part of the
Bari Doab. All three contained large areas of waste
belonging to the State, mostly good soil, but incapable
of cultivation owing to the scanty rainfall. Colonization
has therefore been an important part of all the later
canal projects. The operations have embraced the
excavation of five canals.
Lower Chenab Canal. — The Lower Chenab Canal is
one of the greatest irrigation works in the world, the
area commanded being 3^ million acres, the average
discharge four or five times that of the Thames at
Teddington, and the average irrigated area 2\ million
acres. There are three main branches, the Rakh, the
Jhang, and the Gugera. The supply is secured by a
great weir built across the Chenab river at Khanki
in the Gujranwala district, and 'the irrigation is chiefly
in the Gujranwala, Lyallpur, and Jhang districts. In
the four years ending 1911-12 the average interest
xiii] CANALS 137
earned was 28 p.c., and in future the rate should rarely
fall below 30 p.c. The capital expenditure has been a
little over £2,000,000, The interest charges were cleared
about five years after the starting of irrigation, and the
capital has already been repaid to the State twice over.
«
Native States.
Fig. 46. Map — Canals.
Lower Jhelam Canal. — The Lower Jhelam Canal,
which waters the tract between the Jhelam and Chenab
in the Shahpur and Jhang districts, is a smaller and less
profitable work. The culturable commanded area is
about one million acres. The head-works are at Rasul
in the Gujrat district. Irrigation began in 190 1. In the
138 CANALS [ch.
four years ending 1911-12 the average area watered was
748,000 acres and the interest earned exceeded 10 p.c.
Triple Project — Upper Jhelam and Upper Chenab Canals
and Lower Ban Doab Canal. — The Lower Chenab Canal
takes the whole available supply of the Chenab river.
But it does not command a large area in the Rechna
Doab lying in the west of Gujranwala, in which rain
cultivation is very risky and well cultivation is costly.
No help can be got from the Ravi, as the Upper Bar!
Doab Canal exhausts its supply. Desirable as the
extension of irrigation in the areas mentioned above
is, the problem of supplying it might well have seemed
insuperable. The bold scheme known as the Triple
Project which embraces the construction of the Upper
Jhelam, Upper Chenab, and Lower Ban Doab Canals,
is based on the belief that the Jhelam river has even in
the cold weather water to spare after feeding the Lower
Jhelam Canal. The true raison d'etre of the Upper
Jhelam Canal, whose head-works are at Mangla in Kash-
mir a little north of the Gujrat district, is to throw a
large volume of water into the Chenab at Khanki, where
the Lower Chenab Canal takes off, and so set free an
equal supply to be taken out of the Chenab higher up
at Merala in Sialkot, where are the head-works of the
Upper Chenab Canal. But the Upper Jhelam Canal
will also water annually some 345,000 acres in Gujrat
and Shahpur. The Upper Chenab Canal will irrigate
648,000 acres mostly in Gujranwala, and will be carried
across the Ravi by an aqueduct at Balloke in the south
of Lahore. Henceforth the canal is known as the Lower
Ban Doab, which will water 882,000 acres, mostly
owned by the State, in the Montgomery and Multan
districts. On the other two canals the area of Govern-
ment land is not large. The Triple Project is approaching
completion, and irrigation from the Upper Chenab
xiii] CANALS 139
Canal has begun. The engineering difficulties have been
great, and the forecast does not promise such large
gains as even the Lower Jhelam Canal. But a return
of y\ p.c. is expected.
Monsoon or Inundation Canals. — The numerous mon-
soon or inundation canals, which take off from the Indus,
Jhelam, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej, though individually
petty works, perform an important office in the thirsty
south-western districts. By their aid a kharif crop can
be raised without working the wells in the hot weather,
and with luck the fallow can be well soaked in autumn,
and put under wheat and other spring crops. For the
maturing of these crops a prudent cultivator should
not trust to the scanty cold weather rainfall, but should
irrigate them from a well. The Sidhnai has a weir,
but may be included in this class, for there is no assured
supply at its head in the Ravi in the winter. In
1910-11 the inundation canals managed by the State
watered 1,800,000 acres. There are a number of private
canals in Ferozepore, Shahpur, and the hill district of
Kangra. In Ferozepore the district authorities take a
share in the management.
Colonization of Canal Lands. — The colonization of
huge areas of State lands has been an important part
of new canal schemes in the west of the Panjab. When
the Lower Chenab Canal was started the population of
the vast Bar tract which it commands consisted of a
few nomad cattle owners and cattle thieves. It was
a point of honour to combine the two professions. Large
bodies of colonists were brought from the crowded
districts of the central Panjab. The allotments to
peasants usually consisted of 55 acres, a big holding
for a man who possibly owned only four or five acres in
his native district. There were larger allotments known
as yeoman and capitalist grants, but the peasants are
140 CANALS [ch.
the only class who have turned out quite satisfactory
farmers. Colonization began in 1892 and was practically
complete by 1904, when over 1,800,000 acres had been
allotted. To save the peasants from the evils which
an unrestricted right of transfer was then bringing on
the heads of many small farmers in the Pan jab it was
decided only to give them permanent inalienable tenant
right. The Panjab Alienation of Land Act, No. XIII of
1900, has supplied a remedy generally applicable, and
the peasant grantees are now being allowed to acquire
ownership on very easy terms. The greater part of
the colony is in the new Lyallpur district, which had
in 1911 a population of 857,511 souls.
On the Lower Jhelam Canal the area of colonized
land exceeds 400,000 acres. A feature of colonization
on that canal is that half the area is held on condition
of keeping up one or more brood mares, the object
being to secure a good class of remounts. Succession to
these grants is governed by primogeniture. On the
Lower Bar! Doab Canal a very large area is now being
colonized.
Canals of the N.W.F. Province. — Hemmed in as the
N.W.F. Province is between the Indus and the Hills,
its canals are insignificant as compared with the great
irrigation works of the Panjab. The only ones of any
importance are in the Peshawar Valley. These draw
their supplies from the Kabul, Bara, and Swat rivers,
but the works supplied by the first two streams only
command small areas. The Lower Swat Canal was
begun in 1876, but the tribesmen were hostile and the
diggers had to sleep in fortified enclosures. The work
was not opened till 1885. A reef in the river has made
it possible to dispense with a permanent weir. The
country is not an ideal one for irrigation, being much
cut up by ravines. But a large area has been brought
XIII]
CANALS
141
under command, and the irrigation has more than once
exceeded 170,000 acres. In 1911-12 it was 157,650
acres, and the interest earned was o,f p.c. The Upper
Swat Canal, which was opened in April 1914, was a
Areas commanded by
Kabul River Canal.
L. Swat Canal.
U. Swat Canal.
Fig. 47. Map of Canals of Peshawar district.
more ambitious project, involving the tunnelling at the
Malakand of 11,000 feet of solid rock. The commanded
area is nearly 450,000 acres, including 40,000 beyond
our administrative frontier. The estimated cost is Rs.
18,240,000 or over £1,200,000 and the annual irrigation
expected is 381,562 acres.
CHAPTER XIV
AGRICULTURE AND CROPS
Classification by Zones. — In order to give an intelligible
account of the huge area embraced by the Panjab,
N.W.F. Province, and Kashmir it is necessary to make
a division of the area into zones. Classification must
be on very broad lines based on differences of altitude,
rainfall, and soil, leading to corresponding differences
in the cultivation and the crops. For statistical purposes
districts must be taken as a whole, though a more accurate
classification would divide some of them between two
zones.
Classes of Cultivation. — The broadest division of
cultivation is into irrigated and unirrigated, the former
including well (chdhi), canal {nahri), and dbi. The last
term describes a small amount of land watered from
tanks or jhils in the plains and a larger area in the hills
irrigated by kuhls or small artificial channels ( " Unirri-
gated " embraces cultivation dependent on rain (bdrdni)
or on flooding or percolation from rivers (saildb). (See
Table II.)
Harvests. — There are two harvests, the autumn or
kharif, and the spring or rabl. The autumn crops
are mostly sown in June and July and reaped from
September to December. Cotton is often sown in March.
Cane planted in March and cut in January and February
is counted as a kharif crop. The spring crops are sown
from the latter part of September to the end of December.
ch. xiv] AGRICULTURE AND CROPS
143
They are reaped in March and April. Roughly in the
Panjab three-fifths of the crops belong to the spring
harvest. In the N.W.F. Province the proportion is some-
what higher. In Kashmir the autumn crop is by far the
more important.
Implements of Husbandry and Wells. — The implements
of husbandry are simple but effective in a land where
as a rule there is no advantage in stirring up the soil
r-
Fig. 48 Persian Wheel Well and Ekka.
very deep. With his primitive plough (hal) and a wooden
clodcrusher (sohdga) the peasant can produce a tilth for
a crop like cane which it would be hard to match in
England. There are two kinds of wells, the charsa
or rope and bucket well and the karat or Persian wheel.
Rotations. — The commonest rotation in ordinary loam
soils is to put in a spring and autumn crop in succession
144
AGRICULTURE AND CROPS
[CH.
and then let the land lie fallow for a year. Unless a
good deal of manure is available this is the course to follow,
even in the case of irrigated land. Some poor hard soils
are only fit for crops of coarse rice sown after the embanked
fields have been filled in the monsoon by drainage from
surrounding waste. Other lands are cropped only in
the autumn because the winter rainfall is very scanty.
Flooded lands are often sown only for the spring harvest.
Fig. 49. A drove of goats — Lahore.
Cattle, Sheep, and Goats. — In 1909 there were in
the British districts of the Panjab 4 J million bullocks
and 625,000 male buffaloes available to draw 2,169,000
ploughs and 288,000 carts, thresh the corn, and work
a quarter of a million wells, besides sugar, oil, and flour
mills. The cattle of the hills, N.W. Panjab, and riverain
tracts are undersized, but in the uplands of the Central
Panjab and S.E. districts fine oxen are used. The
horned cattle share 18 millions of pasture land, much
XIV]
AGRICULTURE AND CROPS
145
extremely poor, with 4 million sheep and 5§ million goats.
Hence the enormous area devoted to fodder crops.
Zones. — Six zones can be distinguished,' but, as no
district is wholly confined to the mountain zone, it must
for statistical purposes be united to the submontane
zone :
(a) Mountain above
5000 feet
(b) Submontane
(c) North Central
Plain
(d) North- West Area
(e) South-Western
Plains
(/) South-Eastern
Area
D. P.
/Panjab — Kangra, Simla, Native
States in Hills, Ambala,
Hoshyarpur.
I N.W.F. Province. Hazara,
\ Kashmir — whole
Panjab — Gujrat, Sialkot, Gur-
daspur, Amritsar, Jalan-
dhar, Ludhiana, Kapur-
thala, Malerkotla, Powadh
tract in Phulkian States.
Panjab — Rawalpindi, Jhelam,
Attock, Mianwali.
N.W.F.P.— Peshawar, Kohat,
Bannu.
Panjab — Gujranwala, Lahore,
Shahpur, Jhang, Lyallpur,
Montgomery, Multan, Mu-
zaffargarh, Dera Ghazf
Khan, Bahawalpur.
N.W.F.P.— Dera Ismail Khiin.
Panjab — Karna.1, Rohtak, Gur-
gaon, Hissar, Ferozepore,
Faridkot, Jangal tract in
Phulkian States, Native
States territory adjoining
Gurgaon and Rohtak.
10
146 AGRICULTURE AND CROPS [ch.
Mountain and Submontane Zones. — In the Mountain
Zone the fields are often very minute, consisting of narrow
terraces supported by stone revetments built up the
slopes of hills. That anyone should be ready to spend
time and labour on such unpromising material is a sign
of pressure of population on the soil, which is a marked
feature of some hill tracts.
Fig. 50. A steep bit of hill cultivation, Hazara.
Below 8000 feet the great crop is maize. Potatoes have
been introduced near our hill stations. The chief pulse
of the mountain zone is kulath (Dolichos biflorus), eaten
by. the very poor. Wheat ascends to 8000 or 9000 feet,
and at the higher levels is reaped in August. Barley
is grown at much greater heights. Buckwheat (ugal,
XIV]
AGRICULTURE AND CROPS
147
trumba, drdwi), amaranth {chauldi, ganhdr, saridra), and
a tall chenopod (bathu) are grown in the mountain
Buckwheat is common on poor stony lands.
zone.
The only comparatively flat land is on the banks
above river beds, which are devoted to rice cultivation,
the water being conducted to the embanked fields by
an elaborate system of little canals or kuhls. This is
^mk
Fig. 51. Preparing rice field in the Hills.
the only irrigation in the mountains, and is much valued.
The Submontane Zone has a rainfall of from 30 to 40
inches. Well irrigation is little used and the dry crops
are generally secure. Wheat and maize are the great
staples, but gram and chart, i.e. jowdr grown for fodder,
are also important. Some further information about
Kashmir agriculture will be found in a later chapter. For
10 — 2
148 AGRICULTURE AND CROPS [ch.
full details about classes of cultivation and crops in all
the zones Tables II, III and IV should be consulted.
North Central Panjab Plain. — The best soils and the
finest tillage are to be found in the North Central Zone.
Gujrat has been included in it, though it has also affinities
in the north with the North-West area, and in the south
with the South- Western plain. The rainfall varies from
25 to 35 inches. One-third of the cultivated area is pro-
tected by wells, and the well cultivation is of a very high
class in Ludhiana and Jalandhar, where heavily manured
maize is followed by a fine crop of wheat, and cane is
commonly grown. In parts of Sialkot and Gujrat the well
cultivation is of a different type, the area served per well
being large and the object being to protect a big acreage
of wheat in the spring harvest. The chief crops in this
zone are wheat and chart. The latter is included under
" Other Fodder" in Tables III and IV.
North-Western Area.- — The plateau north of the Salt
Range has a very clean light white sandy loam soil
requiring little ploughing and no weeding. It is often
very shallow, and this is one reason for the great preference
for cold weather crops. Kharif crops are more liable
to be burned up. Generally speaking the rainfall is
from 15 to 25 inches, the proportion falling in the winter
and spring being larger than elsewhere. There is, except
in Peshawar and Bannu, where the conditions involve
a considerable divergence from the type of this zone,
practically no canal irrigation. The well irrigation is
unimportant and in most parts consists of a few acres
round each well intensively cultivated with market-
gardening crops. The dry crops are generally very
precarious. In Mianwali the Indus valley is a fine tract,
but the harvests fluctuate greatly with the extent of
the floods. The Thai in Mianwali to the south of the
Sind Sagar railway is really a part of the next zone.
xiv] AGRICULTURE AND CROPS 149
The South-Western Plains. — This zone contains nine
districts. With the exception of the three on the north
border of the zone they have a rainfall of from 5 to 10
inches. Of these six arid districts, only one, Montgomery,
has any dry cultivation worth mentioning. In the zone
as a whole three-fourths of the cultivation is protected by
canals or wells, or by both. In the lowlands near the
great rivers cultivation depends on the floods brought
to the land direct or through small canals which carry
water to parts which the natural overflow would not
reach. In the uplands vast areas formerly untouched
by the plough have been brought under tillage by the
help of perennial canals, and the process of reclamation
is still going on. The Thai is a large sandy desert which
becomes more and more worthless for cultivation as one
proceeds southwards. In the north the people have found
out of late years that this unpromising sand can not only
yield poor kharif crops, but is worth sowing with gram in
the spring harvest. The expense is small, and a lucky
season means large profits. In Dera Ghazi Khan a large
area of "pat" below the hills is dependent for cultivation
on torrents. The favourite crop in the embanked fields
into which the water is diverted is jowdr.
The South-Eastern Plains. — In the south-eastern Pan-
jab except in Hissar and the native territory on the
border of Rajputana, the rainfall is from 20 to 30 inches.
In Hissar it amounts to some 15 inches. These are
averages ; the variations in total amount and distribution
over the months of the year are very great. In good
seasons the area under dry crops is very large, but the
fluctuations in the sown acreage are extraordinary, and
the matured is often far below the sown area. The
great crops are gram and mixtures of wheat or barley
with gram in the spring, and bdjra in the autumn,
harvest. Well cultivation is not of much importance
150 AGRICULTURE AND CROPS [ch. xiv
generally, though some of it in the Jamna riverain is
excellent. The irrigated cultivation depends mainly on
the Western Jamna and Sirhind canals, and the great
canal crops are wheat and cotton. This is the zone in
which famine conditions are still most to be feared.
In the Panjab as a whole about one-third of the cul-
tivated area is yearly put under wheat, which with bdjra
and maize is the staple food of the people. A large
surplus of wheat and oil-seeds is available for export.
Fig. 52. Carved doorway.
CHAPTER XV
HANDICRAFTS AND MANUFACTURES
Handicrafts. — The chief handicrafts of the province
are those of the weaver, the shoemaker, the carpenter,
the "potter, and the worker in brass and copper. The
figures of the 191 1 census for each craft including de-
pendents were : weavers 883,000 ; shoemakers 540,000 ;
carpenters 381,000 ; potters and brickmakers 349,000 ;
metalworkers 240,000. The figures for weavers include a
few working in factories. The hand-spun cotton-cloth is
a coarse strong fabric known as " khaddar " with a single
warp and weft. " Khes " is a better article with a double
warp and weft. " Susi " is a smooth cloth with coloured
stripes used for women's trousers. A superior kind of
checked " khes " known as " gabrun " is made at Ludhiana.
The native process of weaving is slow and the weavers
are very poor. The Salvation Army is trying to introduce
an improved hand loom. Fine " lungis " or turbans of
cotton with silk borders are made at Ludhiana, Multan,
Peshawar, and elsewhere. Effective cotton printing is
carried on by very primitive methods at Kot Kamalia
and Lahore. Ludhiana and Lahore turn out cotton
darts or rugs. Coarse woollen blankets or lots are woven
at various places, and coloured felts or namdas are made
at Ludhiana, Khushab, and Peshawar. Excellent imita-
tions of Persian carpets are woven at Amritsar, and
the Srinagar carpets do credit to the Kashmiris' artistic
Fig- 53- Shoemaker's craft.
154 HANDICRAFTS AND MANUFACTURES [ch. xv
taste. The best of the Amritsar carpets are made of
pashm, the fine underwool of the Tibetan sheep, and
pashmina is also used as a material for choghas (dressing-
gowns), etc. Coarse woollen cloth or pattu is woven
in the Kangra hills for local use. At Multan useful
rugs are made whose fabric is a mixture of cotton and
wool. More artistic are the Biluch rugs made by the
Biluch women with geometrical patterns. These are
excellent in colouring. They are rather difficult to
procure as they are not made for sale. The weaving
of China silk is a common industry in Amritsar, Bahawal-
pur, Multan, and other places. The phulkdri or silk
embroidery of the village maidens of Hissar and other
districts of the Eastern Panjab, and the more elaborate
gold and silver wire embroideries of the Delhi bazars,
are excellent. The most artistic product of the plains
is the ivory carving of Delhi. As a wood-carver the
Panjabi is not to be compared with the Kashmiri. His
work is best fitted for doorways and the bow windows
or bokhdrchas commonly seen in the streets of old
towns. The best carvers are at Bhera, Chiniot, Amritsar,
and Batala. The European demand has produced at
Simla and other places an abundant supply of cheap
articles of little merit. The inlaid work of Chiniot and
Hoshyarpur is good, as is the lacquer-work of Pakpattan.
The papier mache work of Kashmir has much artistic
merit (Fig. 55), and some of the repousse silver work of
Kashmir is excellent.
The craft of the thathera or brass worker is naturally
most prominent in the Eastern Panjab, because Hindus
prefer brass vessels for cooking purposes. Delhi is the
great centre, but the trade is actively carried on at other
places, and especially at Jagadhri.
Unglazed pottery is made practically in every village.
The blue enamelled pottery of Multan and the glazed
Fig. 54. Carved windows.
156 HANDICRAFTS AND MANUFACTURES [ch.
Delhi china ware are effective. The manufacture of the
latter is on a very petty scale.
Factories. — The factory industries of the Panjab are
still very small. In 191 1 there were 268 factories employ-
ing 28,184 hands. The typical Panjab factory is a little
cotton ginning or pressing mill. The grinding of flour
and husking of rice are sometimes part of the same
Fig- 55- Papier mache work of Kashmir.
business. The number of these mills rose in the 20 years
ending 191 1 from 12 to 202, and there are complaints
that there are now too many factories. Cotton-spinning
has not been very successful and the number of mills
in 191 1, eight, was the same as in 1903-4. The weaving
is almost entirely confined to yarn of low counts. Part
is used by the hand-loom weavers and part is exported
to the United Provinces. Good woollen fabrics are
xv] HANDICRAFTS AND MANUFACTURES 157
turned out at a factory at Dhariwal in the Gurdaspur
district. There were in 1911 fifteen flour mills, ten
ironworks, three breweries, and one distillery.
Joint-Stock Companies. — The Panjab has not reached
the stage where the joint-stock business successfully
takes the place of the family banking or factory business.
Fig. 56. The Potter.
(From a picture book said to have been prepared for
Maharaja Dalip Singh.)
In 1911 there were 194 joint-stock companies But many
of these were provident societies, the working of which
has been attended with such abuses that a special act
has been passed for their control. A number of banks
and insurance companies have also sprung up of late
years Of some of these the paid up capital is absurdly
small, and the recent collapse of the largest and of two
158 HANDICRAFTS AND MANUFACTURES [ch. xv
smaller native banks has drawn attention to the extremely
risky nature of the business done. Of course European
and Hindu family banking businesses of the old type
stand on quite a different footing. Some of the cotton
and other mills are joint-stock concerns.
CHAPTER XVI
EXPORTS AND IMPORTS
Trade. — In 1911-12 the exports from the Panjab,
excluding those by land to Central Asia, Ladakh, and
Afghanistan, were valued at Rs. 27,63,21,000 (£18,421,000),
of which 61 p.c. went to Karachi and about 10 p.c. to
Calcutta and Bombay. Of the total 27 p.c. consisted
of wheat, nearly the whole of which was dispatched to
Karachi. All other grains and pulses were about equal in
value to the wheat. " Gram and other pulses " (18 p.c. of
total exports) was the chief item. Raw cotton accounts
for 15, and oil-seeds for 10 p.c. The imports amounted
in value to Rs. 30,01,28,000 (£20,008,000), little more
than one-third being received from Karachi. Cotton
piece goods (Foreign 22, Indian 8* p.c.) make up one-
third of the total. The other important figures are
sugar 12, and metals 11 p.c. The land trade with
Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Ladakh is insignificant,
but interesting as furnishing an example of modes of
transport which have endured for many centuries, and of
the pursuit of gain often under appalling physical diffi-
culties.
CHAPTER XVII
HISTORY — PRE-MUHAMMADAN PERIOD,
500 B.C.-IOOO A.D.
In Hindu period relations of Panjab were with western
kingdoms. — The large tract included in the British
province of the Panjab which lies between the Jamna
and the Ghagar is, having regard to race, language, and
past history, a part of Hindustan. Where "Panjab" is
used without qualification in this section the territories
west of the Ghagar and south of Kashmir are intended.
The true relations of the Panjab and Kashmir during the
Hindu period were, except for brief intervals, with Persia,
Afghanistan, and Turkistan rather than with the great
kingdoms founded in the valley of the Ganges and the
Jamna.
Normal division into petty kingdoms and tribal con-
federacies.— The normal state of the Panjab in early
times was to be divided into a number of small kingdoms
and tribal republics. Their names and the areas which
they occupied varied from time to time. Names of king-
doms that have been rescued from oblivion are Gandhara,
corresponding to Peshawar and the valley of the Kabul
river, Urasa or Hazara, where the name is still preserved
in the Orash plain, Taxila, which may have corresponded
roughly to the present districts of Rawalpindi and Attock
with a small part of Hazara, Abhisara or the low hills of
Jammu, Kashmir, and Trigartta, with its capital Jalan-
dhara, which occupied most of the Jalandhar division
ch. xvii] HISTORY— PRE-MUHAMMADAN 161
north of the Sutlej and the states of Chamba, Suket, and
Mandi. The historians of Alexander's campaigns intro-
duce us also to the kingdoms of the elder Poros on both
banks of the Jhelam, of the younger Poros east of the
Chenab, and of Sophytes (Saubhuti) in the neighbourhood
of the Salt Range. We meet also with tribal confeder-
acies, such as in Alexander's time those of the Kathaioi
on the upper, and of the Malloi on the lower, Ravi.
Invasion by Alexander, 327-325 B.C. — The great Persian
king, Darius, in 512 B.C. pushed out the boundary of
his empire to the Indus, then running in a more easternly
course than to-day1. The army with which Xerxes in-
vaded Greece included a contingent of Indian bowmen2.
When Alexander overthrew the Persian Empire and
started on the conquest of India, the Indus was the
boundary of the former. His remarkable campaign
lasted from April, 327 B.C., when he led an army of
50,000 or 60,000 Europeans across the Hindu Kush into
the Kabul valley, to October, 325, when he started from
Sindh on his march to Persia through Makran. Having
cleared his left flank by a campaign in the hills of Buner
and Swat, he crossed the Indus sixteen miles above
Attock near Torbela. The King of Taxila, whose capital
was near the Margalla pass on the north border of the
present Rawalpindi district, had prudently submitted as
soon as the Macedonian army appeared in the Kabul
valley. From the Indus Alexander marched to Taxila,
and thence to the Jhelam (Hydaspes), forming *a camp
near the site now occupied by the town of that name in
the country of Poros. The great army of the Indian king
was drawn up to dispute the passage probably not very
1 See Sykes' History of Persia, pp. 179-180; also Herodotos in. 94
and 98 and iv. 44.
2 "The Indians clad with garments made of cotton had bows of
cane and arrows of cane tipped with iron." — Herodotos vn. 65.
D. P. n
162 HISTORY— PRE-MUHAMMADAN [ch.
far from the eastern end of the present railway bridge.
Favoured by night and a monsoon rain-storm — it was the
month of July, 326 B.C. — Alexander succeeded in crossing
some miles higher up into the Karri plain under the low
hills of Gujrat. Here, somewhere near the line now
occupied by the upper Jhelam Canal, the Greek soldiers
gave the first example of a feat often repeated since,
the rout of a large and unwieldy Indian army by a
small, but mobile and well-led, European force. Having
defeated Poros, Alexander crossed the Chenab (Akesines),
stormed Sangala, a fort of the Kathaioi on the upper Ravi
(Hydraotes) and advanced as far as the Bias (Hyphasis).
But the weary soldiers insisted that this should be
the bourn of their eastward march, and, after setting up
twelve stone altars on the farther side, Alexander in Sep-
tember, 326 B.C., reluctantly turned back. Before he left
the Pan jab he had hard fighting with the Malloi on the
lower Ravi, and was nearly killed in the storm of one
of their forts. Alexander intended that his conquests
should be permanent, and made careful arrangements for
their administration. But his death in June, 323 B.C.,
put an end to Greek rule in India. Chandra Gupta
Maurya expelled the Macedonian garrisons, and some
twenty years later Seleukos Nicator had to cede to him
Afghanistan.
Maurya Dominion and Empire of Asoka, 323-231 B.C. —
Chandra Gupta is the Sandrakottos, to whose capital at
Pataliputra (Patna) Seleukos sent Megasthenes in 303 B.C.
The Greek ambassador was a diligent and truthful
observer, and his notes give a picture of a civilized and
complex system of administration. If Chandra Gupta
was the David, his grandson, Asoka, was the Solomon of
the first Hindu Empire. His long reign, lasting from 273
to 231 B.C., was with one exception a period of profound
peace deliberately maintained by an emperor who, after
xvn] PERIOD, 500 b.c.-iooo a.d. 163
his conversion to the teaching of Gautama Buddha,
thought war a sin. Asoka strove to lead his people into
the right path by means of pithy abstracts of the moral
law of his master graven on rocks and pillars. It is curious
to remember that this missionary king was peacefully
ruling a great empire in India during the twenty-four years
of the struggle between Rome and Carthage, which we
call the first Punic War. Of the four Viceroys who
governed the outlying provinces of the empire one
had his headquarters at Taxila. One of the rock edicts
is at Mansehra in Hazara and another at Shahbazgarhi
in Peshawar. From this time and for many centuries
the dominant religion in the Pan jab was Buddhism, but
the religion of the villages may then have been as remote
from the State creed as it is to-day from orthodox
Brahmanism.
Graeco-Bactrian and Graeco-Parthian Rule. — The Pan-
jab slipped from the feeble grasp of Asoka's successors,
and for four centuries it looked not to the Ganges, but
to the Kabul and the Oxus rivers.
Up to the middle of the first century of our era it was
first under Graeco-Bactrian, and later under Graeco-
Parthian, rule directly, or indirectly through local rulers
with Greek names or Saka Satraps. The Sakas, one of
it -
Fig. 57. Coin — -obverse and reverse of Menander.
the central Asian shepherd hordes, were pushed out of
their pastures on the upper Jaxartes by another horde.
11 — 2
164 HISTORY— PRE-MUHAMMADAN [ch.
the Yuechi. Shadowy Hellenist Princes have left us only
their names on coins; one Menander, who ruled about
150 B.C., is an exception. He anticipated the feats of
later rulers of Kabul by a temporary conquest of North-
western India, westwards to the Jamna and southwards
to the sea.
The Kushan Dynasty. — The Yuechi in turn were
driven southward to the Oxus and the Kabul valley and
under the Kushan dynasty established their authority in
the Panjab about the middle of the first century. The
most famous name is that of Kanishka, who wrested from
China Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan, and assembled a
notable council of sages of the law in Kashmir. His reign
may be dated from 120 to 150 a.d. His capital was at
Purushapura (Peshawar) , near which he built the famous
relic tower of Buddha, 400 feet high. Beside the tower
was a large monastery still renowned in the ninth and tenth
centuries as a home of sacred learning. The rule of Kushan
kings in the Panjab lasted till the end of the first quarter
of the third century. To their time belong the Buddhist
sculptures found in the tracts near their Peshawar capital
(see also page 204).
The Gupta Empire. — Of the century preceding the
establishment in 320 B.C. of the Gupta dynasty at Patna
we know nothing. The Panjab probably again fell under
the sway of petty rajas and tribal confederacies, though
the Kushan rule was maintained in Peshawar till 465
a.d., when it was finally blotted out by the White Huns.
These savage invaders soon after defeated Skanda Gupta,
and from this blow the Gupta Empire never recovered.
At the height of its power in 400 a.d. under Chandra
Gupta II, known as Vikramaditya, who is probably the
original of the Bikramajit of Indian legends, it may have
reached as far west as the Chenab.
The White Huns or Ephthalites. — In the beginning of
xvu] PERIOD, 500 b.c -1000 a.d. 165
the sixth century the White Hun, Mahirakula, ruled the
Panjab from Sakala, the modern Sialkot. He was a
worshipper of §iva, and a deadly foe of the Buddhist
cult, and has been described as a monster of cruelty.
The short-lived dominion of the White Huns was
destroyed by the Turks and Persians about the year
565 A.D.
Panjab in seventh century A.D. — From various sources,
one of the most valuable being the Memoirs of the Chinese
Buddhist pilgrim Hiuen Tsang, who travelled in India
from 630 to 644 a. d., we know something of Northern
India in the first half of the seventh century. Hiuen Tsang
was at Kanauj as a guest of a powerful king named
Harsha, whose first capital was at Thanesar, and who
held a suzerainty over all the rajas from the Brahmaputra
to the Bias. West of that river the king of Kashmir
was also overlord of Taxila, Urasa, Parnotsa (Punch),
Rajapuri (Rajauri) and Sinhapura, which seems to have
included the Salt Range. The Peshawar valley was
probably ruled by the Turki Shahiya kings of Kabul.
The rest of the Panjab was divided between a kingdom
called by Hiuen Tsang Tsekhia, whose capital was some-
where near Sialkot, and the important kingdom of Sindh,
in which the Indus valley as far north as the Salt Range
was included. Harsha died in 647 a.d. and his empire
collapsed.
Kashmir under Hindu Kings. — For the next century
China was at the height of its power. It established a
suzerainty over Kashmir, Udyana (Swat), Yasin, and
Chitral. The first was at this period a powerful Hindu
kingdom. Its annals, as recorded in Kalhana's Rajataran-
gini, bear henceforward a real relation to history. In
733 a.d. King Muktapida Lalitaditya received investi-
ture from the Chinese Emperor. Seven years later he
defeated the King of Kanauj on the Ganges. A ruler who
166 HISTORY— PRE-MUHAMMADAN [ch.
carried his arms so far afield must have been very powerful
in the Northern Panjab. The remains of the wonderful
Martand temple, which he built in honour of the Sun
God, are a standing memorial of his greatness. The
history of Kashmir under its Hindu kings for the next
400 years is for the most part that of a wretched people
ground down by cruel tyrants. A notable exception was
Fig. 58. Martand Temple.
Avantidharman — 855-883 a.d. — whose minister, Suyya,
carried out very useful drainage and irrigation works.
The Panjab, 650-1000 A.D. — We know little of Panjab
history in the 340 years which elapsed between the death
of Harsha and the beginning of the Indian raids of the
Sultans of Ghazni in 986-7 a.d. The conquest of the
kingdom of Sindh by the Arab general, Muhammad
Kasim, occurred some centuries earlier, in 712 a.d. Multan,
the city of the §un-worshippers, was occupied, and part
xvn] PERIOD, 500 b.c.-iooo a.d. 167
at least of the Indus valley submitted to the youthful
conqueror. He and his successors in Sindh were tolerant
rulers. No attempt was made to occupy the Central
Panjab, and when the Turkish Sultan, Sabaktagin, made
his first raid into India in 986-7 a.d., his opponent was
a powerful raja named Jaipal, who ruled over a wide
territory extending from the Hakra to the frontier
hills on the north-west. His capital was at Bhatinda.
Just about the time when the rulers of Ghazni were laying
the train which ended at Delhi and made it the seat of
a great Muhammadan Empire, that town was being
founded in 993-4 a.d. by the Tun war Rajputs, who
then held sway in that neighbourhood.
CHAPTER XVIII
history (continued), the muhammadan period,
IOOO-I764 A.D.
The Ghaznevide Raids. — In the tenth century the
Turks were the janissaries of the Abbaside Caliphs of
Baghdad, and ambitious soldiers of that race began to
carve out kingdoms. One Alptagin set up for himself at
Ghazni, and was succeeded in 976 a.d. by his slave
Sabaktagin, who began the long series of Indian raids
which stained with blood the annals of the next half-
century. His son, Mahmud of Ghazni, a ruthless zealot
and robber abroad, a patron of learning and literature
at home, added the Panjab to his dominions. In the
first 26 years of the eleventh century he made seventeen
marauding excursions into India. In the first his father's
opponent, Jaipal, was beaten in a vain effort to save
Peshawar. Ten years later his successor, Anandpal, at
the head of a great army, again met the Turks in the
Khaibar. The valour of the Ghakkars had practically
won the day, when Anandpal's elephant took fright,
and this accident turned victory into rout. In one or
other of the raids Multan and Lahore were occupied,
and the temples of Kangra (Nagarkot) and Thanesar
plundered. In 1018 the Turkish army marched as far
east as Kanauj. The one permanent result of all these
devastations was the occupation of the Panjab. The
Turks made Lahore the capital.
ch. xvin] HISTORY— MUHAMMAD AN PERIOD 169
Decline of Buddhism. — The iconoclastic raids of
Mahmud probably gave the coup de grace to Buddhism.
Its golden age may be put at from 250 B.C. to 200 a.d.
Brahmanism gradually emerged from retirement and
reappeared at royal courts. It was quite ready to admit
Buddha to its pantheon, and by so doing it sapped the
doctrine he had taught. The Chinese pilgrim, Fahien,
in the early part of the fifth century could still describe
Buddhism in the Pan jab as "very nourishing," and he
found numerous monasteries. The religion seems however
to have largely degenerated into a childish veneration of
relics.
Conquest of Delhi. — For a century and a quarter after
the death of Mahmud in 1030 a.d. his line maintained its
sway over a much diminished empire. In 1155 the
Afghan chief of Ghor, Ala ud din, the "World-burner"
(Jahan-soz), levelled Ghazni with the ground. For a
little longer the Ghaznevide Turkish kings maintained
themselves in Lahore. Between 1175 and 1186 Muham-
mad Ghori, who had set up a new dynasty at Ghazni,
conquered Multan, Peshawar, Sialkot, and Lahore, and
put an end to the line of Mahmud. The occupation of
Sirhind brought into the field Prithvi Raja, the Chauhan
Rajput king of Delhi. In 1191 he routed Muhammad
Ghori at Naraina near Karnal. But next year the Afghan
came back with a huge host, and this time on the same
battlefield fortune favoured him. Prithvi Raja was taken
and killed, and Muhammad's slave, Kutbuddin Aibak,
whom he left to represent him in India, soon occupied
Delhi. In 1203 Muhammad Ghori had to flee for his life
after a defeat near the Oxus. The Ghakkars seized the
chance and occupied Lahore. But the old lion, though
wounded, was still formidable. The Ghakkars were beaten,
and, it is said, converted. A year or two later they
murdered their conqueror in his tent near the Indus.
170 HISTORY— THE MUHAMMADAN [ch.
Turkish and Afghans Sultans of Delhi. — He had no
son, and his strong viceroy, Kutbuddin Aibak, became
in 1206 the first of the 33 Muhammadan kings, who in
five successive dynasties ruled from Delhi a kingdom of
varying dimensions, till the last of them fell at Panipat
in 1526, and Babar, the first of the Moghals, became
master of their red fort palace. The blood-stained annals
of these 320 years can only be lightly touched on. Under
vigorous rulers like the Turki Slave kings, Altamsh (1210-
1236) and Balban (1266-1287), a ferocious and masterful
boor like Ala ud din Khalji (1296-13 16), or a ferocious
but able man of culture like Muhammad Tughlak (1325-
135 1), the local governors at Lahore and Multan were
content to be servants. In the frequent intervals during
which the royal authority was in the hands of sottish
wastrels, the chance of independence was no doubt
seized.
Mongol Invasions. — In 1221 the Mongol cloud rose on
the north-west horizon. The cruelty of these camel-riding
Tatars and the terror they inspired may perhaps be
measured by the appalling picture given of their bestial
appearance. In 1221, Chingiz Khan descended on the Indus
at the heels of the King of Khwarizm (Khiva), and drove
him into Sindh. Then there was a lull for twenty years,
after which the Mongol war hordes ruined and ravaged the
Panjab for two generations. Two great Panjab governors,
Sher Khan under Balban and Tughlak under Ala ud din
Khalji, maintained a gallant struggle against these savages.
In 1297 and 1303 the Mongols came to the gates of Delhi,
but the city did not fall, and soon after they ceased to
harry Northern India. During these years the misery
of the common people must often have been extreme.
When foreign raids ceased for a time they were plundered
by their own rulers. In the Panjab the fate of the
peasantry must have depended chiefly on the character
xviii] PERIOD, 1000-1764 a.d. 171
of the governor for the time being, and of the local
feudatories or zaminddrs, who were given the right to
collect the State's share of the produce on condition of
keeping up bodies of armed men for service when required.
The Invasion of Timur. — The long reign of Muhammad
Tughlak's successor, Firoz Shah (1351-1388), son of a
Hindu Rajput princess of Dipalpur, brought relief to all
classes. Besides adopting a moderate fiscal policy, he
founded towns like Hissar and Fatehabad, dug canals
from the Jamna and the Sutlej, and carried out many
other useful works. On his death the realm fell into
confusion. In 1398-99 another appalling calamity fell
upon it in the invasion of Timurlang (Tamerlane), Khan
of Samarkand. He entered India at the head of 90,000
horsemen, and marched by Multan, Dipalpur, Sirsa,
Kaithal, and Panipat to Delhi. What lust of blood was
to the Mongols, religious hatred was to Timur and his
Turks. Ten thousand Hindus were put to the sword at
Bhatner and 100,000 prisoners were massacred before
the victory at Delhi. For the three days' sack of the
royal city Timur was not personally responsible. Sated
with the blood of lakhs of infidels sent "to the fires of
Hell" he marched back through Kangra and Jammu to
the Indus. Six years later the House of Tughlak received
a deadly wound when the Wazir, Ikbal Khan, fell in
battle with Khizr Khan, the governor of Multan.
The later Dynasties. — The Saiyyids, who were in
power from 1414 to 1451, only ruled a small territory
round Delhi. The local governors and the Hindu chiefs
made themselves independent. Sikandar Lodi (1488-
15 18) reduced them to some form of submission, but his
successor, Ibrahim, drove them into opposition by pushing
authority further than his power justified. An Afghan
noble, Daulat Khan, rebelled in the Panjab. There is
always an ear at Kabul listening to the first sounds of
172 HISTORY— THE MUHAMMADAN [ch.
discord and weakness between Peshawar and Delhi.
Babar, a descendant of Timur, ruled a little kingdom
there. In 15 19 he advanced as far as Bhera. Five years
later his troops burned the Lahore bazar, and sacked
Dipalpur. The next winter saw Babar back again, and
this time Delhi was his goal. On the 21st of April, 1526,
a great battle at Panipat again decided the fate of India,
and Babar entered Delhi in triumph.
Akbar and his successors. — He soon bequeathed his
Indian kingdom to his son Humayun, who lost it, but
recovered it shortly before his death by defeating Sikandar
Sur at Sirhind. In 1556 Akbar succeeded at the age of
13, and in the same year Bahram Khan won for his master
a great battle at Panipat and seated the Moghals firmly
on the throne. For the next century and a half, till
their power declined after the death of Aurangzeb in
1707, Kabul and Delhi were under one rule, and the
Panjab was held in a strong grasp. When it was disturbed
the cause was rebellions of undutiful sons of the reigning
Emperor, struggles between rival heirs on the Emperor's
death, or attempts to check the growing power of the
Sikh Gurus. The empire was divided into subahs, and
the area described in this book embraced subahs Lahore
and Multan, and parts of subahs Delhi and Kabul. Kash-
mir and the trans-Indus tract were included in the last.
The Sultans of Kashmir.— The Hindu rule in Kashmir
had broken down by the middle of the twelfth century.
A long line of Musalman Sultans followed. Two notable
names emerge in the end of the fourteenth and the first
half of the fifteenth century, Sikandar, the " Idol-breaker,"
who destroyed most of the Hindu temples and converted
his people to Islam, and his wise and tolerant successor,
Zain-ul-abidin. Akbar conquered Kashmir in 1587.
Moghal Royal Progresses to Kashmir.- — His successors
often moved from Delhi by Lahore, Bhimbar, and the Pir
xviii] PERIOD, 1000-1764 a.d. 173
Panjal route to the Happy Valley in order to escape the
summer heats. Bernier has given us a graphic account
of Aurangzeb's move to the hills in 1665. On that occa-
sion his total following was estimated to amount to
300,000 or 400,000 persons, and the journey from Delhi
to Lahore occupied two months. The burden royal pro-
gresses on this scale must have imposed on the country
is inconceivable. Jahangir died in his beloved Kashmir.
He planted the road from Delhi to Lahore with trees, set
up as milestones the kos mindrs, some of which are still
standing, and built fine sarais at various places.
Prosperity of Lahore under Akbar, Jahangir, and
Shahjahan. — The reigns of Akbar and of his son and
grandson were the heyday of Lahore. It was the half-
way house between Delhi and Kashmir, and between
Agra and Kabul. The Moghal Court was often there.
Akbar made the city his headquarters from 1584 to
1598. Jahangir was buried and Shahjahan was born at
Lahore. The mausoleum of the former is at Shahdara,
a mile or two from the city. Shahjahan made the
Shalimar garden, and Ali Mardan Khan's Canal, the
predecessor of our own Upper Bari Doab Canal, was
partly designed to water it. Lahore retained its impor-
tance under Aurangzeb, till he became enmeshed in the
endless Deccan wars, and his successor, Bahadur Shah,
died there in 1712.
Baba Nanak, the first Guru. — According to Sikh
legend Babar in one of his invasions had among his
prisoners their first Guru, Baba Nanak, and tried to make
him a Musalman. Nanak was born in 1469 at Talwandi,
now known as Nankana Sahib, 30 miles to the south-west
of Lahore, and died twelve years after Babar's victory
at Panipat. He journeyed all over India, and, if legend
speaks true, even visited Mecca. His propaganda was
a peaceful one. A man of the people himself, he had a
Fig. 59. Baba Nanak and the Musician Mardana.
ch. xviii] HISTORY— MUHAMMADAN PERIOD 175
message to deliver to a peasantry naturally impatient
of the shackles of orthodox Hinduism. Sikhism is the
most important of all the later dissents from Brahmanism,
which represent revolts against idolatry, priestly domina-
tion, and the bondage of caste and ritual. These things
Nanak unhesitatingly condemned, and in the opening
lines of his Japji, the morning service which every true
Sikh must know by heart, he asserted in sublime language
the unity of God.
The Gurus between Nanak and Govind. — The first
three successors of Nanak led the quiet lives of great
eastern saints. They managed to keep on good terms
with the Emperor and generally also with his local repre-
sentatives. The fifth Guru, Arjan (1581-1606), began the
welding of the Sikhs into a body fit to play a part in secular
politics. He compiled their sacred book, known as the
Granth Sahib, and made Amritsar the permanent centre
of their faith. The tenets of these early Gurus chimed in
with the liberal sentiments of Akbar, and he treated them
kindly. Arjan was accused of helping Khusru, Jahangir's
rebellious son, and is alleged to have died after suffering
cruel tortures.
Hitherto there had been little ill-will between mono-
theistic Sikhs and Muhammadans. Henceforth there
was ever-increasing enmity. The peasant converts to
the new creed had many scores against Turk officials to
pay off, while the new leader Hargovind (1606-1645), had
the motive of revenge. He was a Guru of a new type, a
lover of horses and hawks, and a man of war. He kept
up a bodyguard, and, when danger threatened, armed
followers flocked to his standard. The easy-going
Jahangir (1605-1627) on the whole treated him well.
Shahjahan (1627-1659) was more strict or less prudent,
and during his reign there were several collisions between
the imperial troops and the Guru's followers. Hargovind
Fig. 60, Guru Govind Singh.
ch. xvm] HISTORY— MUHAMMADAN PERIOD 177
was succeeded by his grandson, Har Rai (1645-1661).
The new Guru was a man of peace. Har Rai died in
1661, having nominated his younger son, Harkrishn, a
child of six, as his successor. His brother, Ram Rai,
disputed his claim, but Aurangzeb confirmed Harkrishn's
appointment. He died of small pox in 1664 and was
succeeded by his uncle, Teg Bahadur (1664-1675), whose
chief titles to fame are his execution in 1675, his prophecy
of the coming of the English, and the fact that he was
the father of the great tenth Guru, Govind. It is said
that when in prison at Delhi he gazed southwards one
day in the direction of the Emperor's zandna. Charged
with this impropriety, he replied : " I was looking in
the direction of the Europeans, who are coming to tear
down thy par das and destroy thine empire."
Guru Govind Singh. — When Govind (1675-1708) suc-
ceeded his father, Aurangzeb had already started on the
course of persecution which fatally weakened the pillars
of Turkish rule. Govind grew up with a rooted hatred of
the Turks, and a determination to weld his followers into
a league of fighting men or Khdlsa (Ar. khdlis = pure),
admission into which was by the pahul, a form of military
baptism. Sikhs were henceforth to be Singhs (lions).
They were forbidden to smoke, and enjoined to wear the
five k's, kes, kangha, kripan, kachh, and kara (uncut hair,
comb, sword, short drawers, and steel bracelet). He
established himself at Anandpur beyond the Hoshyarpur
Siwaliks. Much of his life was spent in struggles with
his neighbours, the Rajput Hill Rajas, backed from time
to time by detachments of imperial troops from Sirhind.
In 1705 two of his sons were killed fighting and two young
grandsons were executed at Sirhind. He himself took
refuge to the south of the Sutlej, but finally decided to
obey a summons from Aurangzeb, and was on the way
to the Deccan when the old Emperor died. The Guru
d. p. 12
178 HISTORY— THE MUHAMMADAN [ch.
took up his residence on the banks of the Godavari, and
died there in 1708.
Banda. — Before his death he had converted the
Hindu ascetic Banda, and sent him forth on a mission of
revenge. Banda defeated and slew the governor of Sir-
hind, Wazir Khan, and sacked the town. Doubtless he
dreamed of making himself Guru. But he was really
little more than a condottiere, and his orthodoxy was
suspect. He was defeated and captured in 1715 at
Gurdaspur. Many of his followers were executed and he
himself was tortured to death at Delhi, where the members
of an English mission saw a ghastly procession of Sikh
prisoners with 2000 heads carried on poles. The blow was
severe, and for a generation little was heard of the Sikhs.
Invasions of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah. — The central
power was weak, and a new era of invasions from the
west began. Nadir Shah, the Turkman shepherd, who
had made himself master of Persia, advanced through
the Panjab. Zakaria Khan, the governor of Lahore,
submitted and the town was saved from sack. A victory
at Karnal left the road to Delhi open, and in March,
1738, the Persians occupied the capital. A shot fired at
Nadir Shah in the Chandni Chauk led to the nine hours'
massacre, when the Dariba ran with blood, and 100,000
citizens are said to have perished. The Persians retired
laden with booty, including the peacock throne and the
Kohinur diamond. The Sikhs harassed detachments of
the army on its homeward march. Nadir Shah was
murdered nine years later, and his power passed to the
Afghan leader, the Durani Ahmad Shah.
Between 1748 and 1767 this remarkable man, who
could conquer but could not keep, invaded India eight
times. Lahore was occupied in 1748, but at Sirhind the
skill of Mir Mannu, called Muin ul Mulk, gave the advan-
tage to the Moghals. Ahmad Shah retreated, and
xviii] PERIOD, 1000-1764 a.d. 179
Mufn ul Mulk was rewarded with the governorship of the
Panjab. He was soon forced to cede to the Afghan the
revenue of four districts. His failure to fulfil his compact
led to a third invasion in 1752, and Mum ul Mulk, after a
gallant defence of Lahore, had to submit. In 1755-56
Ahmad Shah plundered Delhi and then retired, leaving
his son, Timur, to represent him at Lahore. Meanwhile
the Sikhs had been gathering strength. Then, as now,
they formed only a fraction of the population. But they
were united by a strong hatred of Muhammadan rule,
and in the disorganized state of the country even the
loose organization described below made them formid-
able. Owing to the weakness of the government the
Panjab became dotted over with forts, built by local
chiefs, who undoubtedly lived largely by plunder. The
spiritual organization under a Guru being gone, there
gradually grew up a political and military organization
into twelve mists, in which "a number of chiefs
agreed, after a somewhat democratic and equal fashion,
to fight under the general orders of some powerful
leader" against the hated Muhammadans. The misls
often fought with one another for a change. In the third
quarter of the eighteenth century Sarddr Jassa Singh of
Kapurthala, head of the Ahluwalia mi si, was the leading
man among the Sikhs. Timur having defiled the tank
at Amritsar, Jassa Singh avenged the insult by occupying
Lahore in 1756, and the Afghan prince withdrew across
the Indus. Adina Beg, the governor of the Jalandhar
Doab, called in the Mahrattas, who drove the Sikhs out
in 1758. Ahmad Shah's fifth invasion in 1761 was rendered
memorable by his great victory over the Mahratta
confederacy at Panipat. When he returned to Kabul,
the Sikhs besieged his governor, Zin Khan, in Sirhind.
Next year Ahmad Shah returned, and repaid their
audacity by a crushing defeat near Barnala.
12 — 2
180 HISTORY— MUHAMMADAN PERIOD [ch. xviii
They soon rallied, and, in 1763, under Jassa Singh
Ahluwalia and Raja Ala Singh of Patiala razed Sirhind
to the ground. After the sack the Sikh horsemen rode
over the plains between Sirhind and Karnal, each man
claiming for his own any village into which in passing he
had thrown some portion of his garments. This was
the origin of the numerous petty chiefships and con-
federacies of horsemen, which, along with the Phulkian
States, the British Government took under its protection
in 1808. In 1764 the chiefs of the Bhangi misl occupied
Lahore.
CHAPTER XIX
history {continued), the sikh period,
I764-1849 A.D.
Rise of Ranjit Singh. — The Bhangis held Lahore with
brief intervals for 25 years. In 1799, Ranjit Singh,
basing his claim on a grant from Shah Zaman, the grand-
son of Ahmad Shah, drove them out, and inaugurated
the remarkable career which ended with his death in
1839. When he took Lahore the future Maharaja was
only nineteen years of age. He was the head of the
Sukarchakia mi si, which had its headquarters at Gujran-
wala. Mean in appearance, his face marked and one eye
closed by the ravages of smallpox, he was the one man
of genius the Jat tribe has produced. A splendid horse-
man, a bold leader, a cool thinker untroubled with
scruples, an unerring judge of character, he was bound
to rise in such times. He set himself to put down
every Sikh rival and to profit by the waning of the
Durani power to make himself master of their possessions
in the Panjab. Pluck, patience, and guile broke down all
opposition among the Manjha Sikhs. The Sikh chiefs to
the south of the Sutlej were only saved from the same
fate by throwing themselves in 1808 on the protection of
the English, who six years earlier had occupied Delhi,
and by taking under their protection the blind old
Emperor, Shah Alam, had virtually proclaimed them-
selves the paramount power in India. For 44 years he
had been only a piece in the game played by Mahrattas,
182
HISTORY— THE SIKH
CH.
Rohillas, and the English in alliance with the Nawab
Wazir of Oudh.
British supremacy established in India. — In the first
years of the nineteenth century the Marquess of Wellesley
had made up his mind that the time was ripe to grasp
supreme power in India. The motive was largely self-
Fig. 61. Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
{From a picture book said to have been prepared for
Maharaja Dalip Singh.)
preservation. India was included in Napoleon's vast
plans for the overthrow of England, and Sindhia, with
his army trained in European methods of warfare by
French officers, seemed a likely confederate. Colonel
Arthur Wellesley's hard-won battle at Assaye in Septem-
ber, 1803, and Lord Lake's victories on the Hindan and
xix] PERIOD, 1764-1849 a.d. 183
at Laswari in the same year, decided the fate of India.
Delhi was occupied, and Daulat Rao Sindhia ceded to the
company territory reaching from Fazilka on the Sutlej
to Delhi on the Jamna, and extending along that river
northwards to Karnal and southwards to Mewat. Fazilka
and a large part of Hissar then formed a wild desert tract
called Bhattiana, over which no effective control was
exercised till 1818. In 1832 "the Delhi territory"
became part of the North- West Provinces, from which
it was transferred to the Pan jab after the Mutiny.
Relations of Ranjit Singh with English. — In December,
1808, Ranjit Singh was warned that by the issue of the
war with Sindhia the Cis-Sutlej chiefs had come under
British protection. The Maharaja was within an ace of
declaring war, or let the world think so, but his statesman-
like instincts got the better of mortified ambition, and
in April, 1809, he signed a treaty pledging himself to
make no conquests south and east of the Sutlej. The
compact so reluctantly made was faithfully observed.
In 1815, as the result of war with the Gurkhas, the
Rajput hill states lying to the south of the Sutlej came
under British protection.
Extension of Sikh Kingdom in Panjab. — As early as
1806, when he reduced Jhang, Ranjit Singh began his
encroachments on the possessions of the Duranis in the
Panjab. Next year, and again in 1810 and 1816, Multan
was attacked, but the strong fort was not taken till 1818,
when the old Nawab, Muzaffar Khan, and five of his
sons, fell fighting at the gate. Kashmir was first attacked
in 181 1 and finally annexed in 1819. Called in by the
great Katoch Raja of Kangra, Sansar Chand, in 1809, to
help him against the Gurkhas, Ranjit Singh duped both
parties, and became master of the famous fort. Many
years later he annexed the whole of the Kangra hill
states. By 1820 the Maharaja was supreme from the
184 HISTORY— THE SIKH PERIOD [ch. xix
Sutlej to the Indus, though his hold on Hazara was
weak. Peshawar became tributary in 1823, but it was
kept in subjection with much difficulty. Across the Indus
the position of the Sikhs was always precarious, and
revenue was only paid when an armed force could be
sent to collect it. As late as 1837 tne great Sikh leader,
Hari Singh Nalwa, fell fighting with the Afghans at
Jamrud. The Barakzai, Dost Muhammad, had been the
ruler of Kabul since 1826. In 1838, when the English
launched their ill-starred expedition to restore Shah
Shuja to his throne, Ranjit Singh did not refuse his help
in the passage through the Panjab. But he was worn
out by toils and excesses, and next year the weary lion
of the Panjab died. He had known how to use men.
He employed Jat blades and Brahman and Muhammadan
brains. Khatris put both at his service. The best of his
local governors was Diwan Sawan Mai, who ruled the
South- West Panjab with much profit to himself and to
the people. After 1820 the three Jammu brothers,
Rajas Dhian Singh, Suchet Singh, and Gulab Singh, had
great power.
Successors of Ranjit Singh. — From 1839 till 1846 an
orgy of bloodshed and intrigue went on in Lahore.
Kharak Singh, the Maharaja's son, died in 1840, and on
the same day occurred the death of his son Nao Nihal
Singh, compassed probably by the Jammu Rajas. Sher
Singh, and then the child, Dalip Singh, succeeded. In
September, 1843, Maharaja Sher Singh, his son Partab
Singh, and Raja Dhian Singh were shot by Ajit Singh and
Lehna Singh of the great Sindhanwalia house. The death
of Dhian Singh was avenged by his son, Hira Singh,
who proclaimed Dalip Singh as Maharaja and made
himself chief minister. When he in turn was killed Rani
Jindan, the mother of Dalip Singh, her brother Jowahir
Singh, and her favourite, Lai Singh, took the reins.
Fig. 62. Maharaja Kharak Singh. Fig. 63. Nao Nihal Singh.
Fig. 64. Maharaja Sher Singh.
(From a picture book said to have been prepared for
Maharaja Dalip Singh.)
186 HISTORY— THE SIKH [ch.
The First Sikh War and its results. — In 1845 these
intriguers, fearing the Khdlsa army which they could not
control, yielded to its cry to be led across the Sutlej in
the hope that its strength would be broken in its conflict
with the Company's forces. The valour displayed by
the Sikh soldiery on the fields of Mudki, Ferozeshah
(Pherushahr), and Sobraon was rendered useless by the
treachery of its rulers, and Lahore was occupied in Feb-
ruary, 1846. By the treaty signed on 9th March, 1846,
the Maharaja ceded the territories in the plains between
the Sutlej and Bias, and in the hills between the Bias and
the Indus. Kashmir and Hazara were made over by the
Company to Raja Gulab Singh for a payment of 75 lakhs,
but next year he induced the Lahore Darbar to take over
Hazara and give him Jammu in exchange. After Raja
Lai Singh had been banished for instigating Shekh Imam
ud din to resist the occupation of Kashmir by Gulab
Singh, an agreement was executed, in December, 1846,
between the Government and the chief Sikh Sarddrs by
which a Council of Regency was appointed to be controlled
by a British Resident at Lahore. The office was given to
Henry Lawrence.
The Second Sikh War. — These arrangements were
destined to be short-lived. Diwan Sawan Mai's son,
Mulraj, mismanaged Multan and was ordered to resign.
In April, 1848, two English officers sent to instal his Sikh
successor were murdered. Herbert Edwardes, with the
help of Muhammadan tribesmen and Bahawalpur troops,
shut up Mulraj in Multan, but the fort was too strong
for the first British regular force, which arrived in
August, and it did not fall till January, 1849. During
that winter a formidable Sikh revolt against English
domination broke out. Its leader was Sarddr Chatar
Singh, Governor of Hazara. The troops sent by the
Darbar to Multan under Chatar Singh's son, Sher Singh,
xix]
PERIOD, 1764-1849 a.d.
187
marched northwards in September to join their co-
religionists.
On the 13th of January, 1849, Lord Gough fought a
very hardly contested battle at Chilianwala. If this
was but a doubtful victory, that won six weeks later at
Gujrat was decisive. On 12th March, 1849, the soldiers
Fig. 65. Zamzama Gun1.
of the Khdlsa in proud dejection laid down their weapons
at the feet of the victor, and dispersed to their homes.
Annexation. — The cause they represented was in no
sense a national one. The Sikhs were a small minority
of the population, the bulk of the people being Muham-
madans, to whom the English came as deliverers. On
the 30th of March, 1849, the proclamation annexing the
Pan jab was read at Lahore.
1 This gun, known to the readers of Kim, stands on the Lahore
Mall. Whoever possesses it is supposed to be ruler of the Panjab.
CHAPTER XX
history {continued), the British period,
1849-1913
Administrative Arrangements in Pan jab. — Lord Dal-
housie put the government of the province under a Board
of Administration consisting of the two Lawrences, Henry
and John, and Charles Mansel. The Board was abolished
in 1853 and its powers vested in a Chief Commissioner.
A Revenue or Financial Commissioner and a Judicial
Commissioner were his principal subordinates. John
Lawrence, the first and only Chief Commissioner of the
Pan jab, became its first Lieutenant-Governor on the 1st
of January, 1859. The raising of the Panjab to the full
rank of an Indian province was the fitting reward of
the great part which its people and its officers, with their
cool-headed and determined chief, had played in the
suppression of the Mutiny. The overthrow of the Khdlsa
left the contending parties with the respect which strong
men feel for each other; the services of the Sikhs in 1857
healed their wounded pride and removed all soreness.
Administration, 1 849-1 859. — When John Lawrence
laid down his office in the end of February, 1859, ten
years of work by himself and the able officers drafted by
Lord Dalhousie into the new province had established
order on a solid foundation. A strong administration
suited to a manly and headstrong people had been
organised. In the greater part of the province rights in
land had been determined and recorded. The principle
ch. xx] HISTORY— THE BRITISH PERIOD 189
of a moderate assessment of the land revenue had been
laid down and partially carried out in practice. The
policy of canal and railway development, which was to
Fig. 66. Sir John Lawrence.
have so great a future in the Panjab, had been definitely
started. The province had been divided into nine
divisions containing 33 districts. The Divisional Com-
missioners were superintendents of revenue and police
190
HISTORY— THE BRITISH
[CH.
with power to try the gravest criminal offences and to
hear appeals in civil cases. The Deputy Commissioner
of districts had large civil, criminal, and fiscal powers.
A simple criminal and civil code was enforced. The
peace of the frontier was secured by a chain of fortified
Fig. 67. John Nicolson's Monument at Delhi.
outposts watching the outlets from the hills, behind
which were the cantonments at the headquarters of the
districts linked together by a military road. The posts
and the cantonments except Peshawar were garrisoned
by the Frontier Force, a splendid body of troops consisting
XX]
PERIOD, 1849-1913 a.d.
IQI
ultimately of seven infantry and five cavalry regiments,
with some mule batteries. This force was till 1885
subject to the orders of the Lieutenant Governor. It
never wanted work, for before the Mutiny troops had
to be employed seventeen times against the independent
tribesmen. East of the Indus order was secured by the
disarmament of the people, the maintenance, in addition
to civil police, of a strong body of military police, and the
construction of good roads. Just before Lawrence left
the construction of the Amritsar-Multan railway was
begun, and a few weeks after his departure the Upper
Bari Doab Canal was opened.
Fig. 68. Sir Robert Montgomery.
192 HISTORY— THE BRITISH [ch.
Administration, 1 859-1 870. — The next eleven years
occupied by the administrations of Sir Robert Mont-
gomery and Sir Donald Macleod were a quiet time in
which results already achieved were consolidated. The
Penal Code was extended to the Panjab in 1862, and a
Chief Court with a modest establishment of two judges
in 1865 took the place of the Judicial Commissioner. In
the same year a Settlement Commissioner was appointed
to help the Financial Commissioner in the control of land
revenue settlements. Two severe famines marked the
beginning and the close of this period. Omitting the
usual little frontier excitements, it is necessary to mention
the troublesome Ambela campaign in 1863 in the country
north of Peshawar, which had for its object the breaking
up of the power of a nest of Hindustani fanatics, and the
Black Mountain expedition, in 1868, on the Hazara border,
in which no fewer than 15,000 men were employed.
Sir Henry Durand, who succeeded Sir Donald Macleod,
after seven months of office lost his life by an accident
in the beginning of 1871.
Administration, 1 871-1882. — The next eleven years
divided between the administrations of Sir Henry Davies
(1871-1877) and Sir Robert Egerton (1877-1882) produced
more striking events. In 1872 a small body of fanatics
belonging to a Sikh sect known as Kukas or Shouters
marched from the Ludhiana district and attacked the
headquarters of the little Muhammadan State of Maler-
kotla. They were repulsed and 68 men surrendered to
the Patiala authorities. The Deputy Commissioner of
Ludhiana blew 49 of them from the guns, and the rest
were executed after summary trial by the Commissioner.
Such strong measures were not approved by the Govern-
ment, but it must be remembered that these madmen
had killed ten and wounded seventeen men, and that
their lives were justly forfeit. On the 1st of January,
XX]
PERIOD, 1 849-1913 a.d.
193
1877, Queen Victoria's assumption of the title of Empress
of India {Kaisar-i-Hind) was announced at a great Darbdr
at Delhi. In 1877 Kashmir, hitherto controlled by the
Lieutenant-Governor, was put directly under the Govern-
ment of India. The same year and the next the province
was tried by famine, and in 1878-80 it was the base from
Fig. 69. Panjab Camels — Lahore.
which our armies marched on Kabul and Kandahar,
while its resources in camels were strained to supply
transport. Apart from this its interest in the war was
very great because it is the chief recruiting ground of
the Indian army and its chiefs sent contingents to help
their suzerain. The first stage of the war was closed by
the treaty of Gandamak in May, 1879, by which Yakub
D. p.
13
i94
HISTORY— THE BRITISH
[CH.
the
Khan surrendered any rights he possessed over
Khaibar and the Kurram as far as Shutargardan.
Administration, 1882-1892. — During the Lieutenant-
Governorships of Sir Charles Aitchison (1882-1887) and
Sir James Lyall (1887-1892) there was little trouble on
Fig. 70. Sir Charles Aitchison.
the western frontier. In 1891 the need had arisen of
making our power felt up to the Pamirs. The setting
up of a British agency at Gilgit was opposed in 1891
by the fighting men of Hunza and Nagar. Colonel
Durand advanced rapidly with a small force and when
a determined assault reduced the strong fort of Nilt,
xx] PERIOD, 1849-1913 a.d. 195
trouble was at an end once and for all. Within the
Panjab the period was one of quiet development. The
Sirhind Canal was opened in 1882, and the weir at
Khanki for the supply of the Lower Chenab Canal
was finished in 1892. New railways were constructed.
Lord Ripon's policy of Local Self-government found a
strong supporter in Sir Charles Aitchison, and Acts were
passed dealing with the constitution and powers of
municipal committees and district boards. In 1884 and
1885 a large measure of reorganization was carried out.
A separate staff of divisional, district, and subordinate
civil judges was appointed. The divisional judges were
also sessions judges. The ten commissioners were reduced
to six, and five of them were relieved of all criminal
work by the sessions judges. The Deputy Commissioner
henceforth was a Revenue Collector and District Magis-
trate with large powers in criminal cases. The revenue
administration was at the same time being improved by
the reforms embodied in the Panjab Land Revenue and
Tenancy Acts passed at the beginning of Sir James
Lyall's administration.
Administration, 1 892-1 902. — The next two admin-
istrations, those of Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick (1892-97) and
Sir Mackworth Young (1897-1902) were crowded with
important events. Throughout the period the coloniza-
tion of the vast area of waste commanded by the
Lower Chenab Canal was carried out, and the Lower
Jhelam Canal was formally opened six months before Sir
Mackworth Young left. The province suffered from famine
in 1896-97 and again in 1899-1900. In October, 1897, a
worse enemy appeared in the shape of plague, but its
ravages were not very formidable till the end of the
period. The Panjab was given a small nominated
Legislative Council in 1897, which speedily proved itself
a valuable instrument for dealing with much-needed
13—2
196 HISTORY— THE BRITISH [ch.
provincial legislation. But the most important Panjab
Act of the period, XIII of 1900, dealing with Land
Alienation was passed by the Viceroy's Legislative
Council. In 1901 a Political Agent was appointed
as the intermediary between the Panjab. Government
and the Phulkian States. On the frontier the conclusion
of the Durand Agreement in 1893 might well have
raised hopes of quiet times. But the reality was
otherwise. The establishment of a British officer at
Wana to exercise control over Southern Waziristan in
1894 was forcibly resisted by the* Mahsud Wazirs, and
an expedition had to be sent into their country. The
Mehtar or Chief of Chitral, who was in receipt of a subsidy
from the British Government, died in 1892. A period of
great confusion followed fomented by the ambitions of
Umra Khan of Jandol. Finally we recognised as Mehtar
the eldest son, who had come uppermost in the struggle,
and sent an English officer as British Agent to Chitral.
Umra Khan got our protege murdered, and besieged the
Agent in the Chitral fort. He withdrew however on the
approach of a small force from Gilgit. Shuja-ul-Mulk was
recognised as Mehtar. This little trouble occurred in
1895. Two years later a storm-cloud suddenly burst
over the frontier, such as we had never before experi-
enced. It spread rapidly from the Tochi to Swat, tribe
after tribe rising and attacking our posts. It is impossible
to tell here the story of the military, measures taken
against the different offending tribes. The most important
was the campaign in Tirah against the Orakzais and
Afridis, in which 30,000 men were engaged for six months.
In 1900 attacks on the peace of the border by the Mahsud
Wazirs had to be punished by a blockade, and in the cold
weather of 1901-2 small columns harried the hill country
to enforce their submission. By this time the connection
of the Panjab Government with frontier affairs, which
xx] PERIOD, 1849-1913 a.d. 197
had gradually come to involve responsibility with little
real power, had ceased. On the 25th of October, 1901,
the North- West Frontier Province was constituted and
Colonel (afterwards Sir Harold) Deane became its first
Chief Commissioner, an office which he held till 1908,
when he was succeeded by Major (now Sir George) Roos
Keppel.
Administration, 1902-19 13. — The last eleven years
have embraced the Lieutenant Governorship of Sir
Charles Rivaz (1902-1907), the too brief administration
of Sir Denzil Ibbetson (1907-1908), and that of Sir Louis
Dane (1908-1913). Throughout the period plague has
been a disturbing factor, preventing entirely the growth
of population which the rapid development of the agri-
cultural resources of the province would otherwise have
secured. It was among the causes stimulating the
unrest which came to a head in 1907. A terrible earth-
quake occurred in 1905. Its centre was in Kangra,
where 20,000 persons perished under the ruins of their
houses. The colonization of the Crown waste on the
Lower Jhelam Canal was nearly finished during Sir
Charles Rivaz's administration. Before he left the
Triple Canal Project, now approaching completion, had
been undertaken. Other measures of importance to the
rural population were the passing of the Co-operative
Credit Societies' Act in 1903, and the organization in
1905 of a provincial Agricultural Department. The
seditious movement which troubled Bengal had its echo
in some parts of the Pan jab in the end of 1906 and the
spring of 1907. A bill dealing with the rights and
obligations of the Crown tenants in the new Canal Colonies
was at the time before the Local Legislature. Excitement
fomented from outside spread among the prosperous
colonists on the Lower Chenab Canal. There was a
disturbance in Lahore in connection with the trial of a
198 HISTORY— THE BRITISH [ch.
newspaper editor, the ringleaders being students. When
Sir Denzil Ibbetson took the reins into his strong hands
in March, 1907, the position was somewhat critical.
The disturbance at Lahore was followed by a riot at
Rawalpindi. The two leading agitators were deported,
a measure which was amply justified by their reckless
Fig. 71. Sir Denzil Ibbetson.
actions and which had an immediate effect. Lord Minto
decided to withhold his assent from the Colony Bill, and
it has recently been replaced by a measure which has
met with general acceptance. "When Sir Denzil Ibbetson
took office he was already suffering from a mortal disease.
In the following January he gave up the unequal struggle,
xx]
PERIOD, 1849-1913 a.d.
199
and shortly afterwards died. Sir Louis Dane became
Lieutenant Governor in May, 1908. A striking feature
of his administration was
the growth of co-operative
credit societies or village
banks. At the Coronation
Darbdr on 12th December,
1911, the King -Emperor
announced the transfer of
the capital of India to Delhi.
As a necessary consequence
the city and its suburbs were
severed from the province,
with which they had been
connected for 55 years. In
1913 Sir Louis Dane was succeeded by Sir Michael
O'Dwyer.
Fig. 72. Sir Michael O'Dwyer.
CHAPTER XXI
ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS
Hindu and Buddhist Remains. — The scholar who
ended his study of Indian history with the close of the
first millennium of the Christian era would expect to find
a fruitful field for the study of ancient monuments of
the Hindu faith in the plains of the Panjab. He would
look for a great temple of the Sun God at Multan, and at
places like Lahore and Kangra, Thanesar and Pihowa, for
shrines rich with graven work outside and with treasures
of gold and precious stones within. But he would look
in vain. The Muhammadan invaders of the five centuries
which elapsed between Mahmud of Ghazni and the
Moghal Babar were above all things idol-breakers, and
their path was marked by the destruction and spoliation
of temples. Even those invaders who remained as
conquerors deemed it a pious work to build their mosques
with the stones of ruined fanes. The transformation,
as in the case of the great Kuwwat ul Islam mosque
beside the Kutb Minar, did not always involve the
complete obliteration of idolatrous emblems. Kangra
was not too remote to be reached by invading armies,
and the visitor to Nurpur on the road from Pathankot to
Dharmsala can realize how magnificent some of the old
Hindu buildings were, and how utterly they were de-
stroyed. The smaller buildings to be found in the remoter
parts of the hills escaped, and there are characteristic
ch. xxi] ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS
201
groups of stone temples at Chamba and still older shrines
dating from the eighth century at Barmaur and Chitradi
in the same state. The ruins of the great temple of the
Sun, built by Lalitaditya in the same period, at Martand1
near Islamabad in the Kashmir State are very striking.
The smaller, but far better preserved, temple at Payer
is probably of much later date. Round the pool of
Fig. 73. Group of Chamba Temples.
Katas, one of §iva's eyes, a great place of Hindu pilgrimage
in the Salt Range, there is little or nothing of antiquarian
value, but there are interesting remains at Malot in the
same neighbourhood. It is possible that when the mounds
that mark the sites of ancient villages come to be excavated
valuable relics of the Hindu period will be brought to
light. The forces of nature or the violence of man have
wiped out all traces of the numerous Buddhist monasteries
1 See page 166.
2V2
ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS
[CH.
which the Chinese pilgrims found in the Panjab. Inscrip-
tions of A§oka graven on rocks survive at Shahbazgarhi
and Mansehra in the North-West Frontier Province.
Two pillars with inscriptions of the Missionary Emperor
stand at Delhi. They were brought from Topra near
the Jamna in Ambala and from Meerut by Firoz Shah.
The traveller by train from Jhelam to Rawalpindi can
Fig. 74. Payer Temple.
see to the west of the line at Mankiala a great stupa
raised to celebrate the self-sacrifice of the Bodhisattva
who gave his life to feed a starving tigress. There is
a ruined stupa at Sui Vihar in the Bahawalpur State.
The Chinese pilgrims described the largest of Indian
stupas built by Kanishka near Peshawar to enshrine
precious relics of Gautama Buddha and a great monastery
XXI]
ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS
203
beside it. Recent excavations have proved the truth of
the conjecture that the two mounds at Shahji ki dheri
covered the remains of these buildings, and the six-sided
Fig. 75. Reliquary.
crystal reliquary containing three small fragments of
bone has after long centuries been disinterred and is
now in the great pagoda at Rangoon. In the Lahore
204
ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS
[CH.
museum there is a rich collection of the sculptures
recovered from the Peshawar Valley, the ancient Gan-
dhara. They exhibit strong traces of Greek influence.
The best age of Gandhara sculpture was probably over
before the reign of Kanishka. The site of the famous
town of Taxila is now a protected area, and excavation
there may yield a rich reward.
Fig. 76. Colonnade in Kuwwat ul Islam Mosque.
Muhammadan Architecture. — The Muhammadan archi-
tecture of North-Western India may be divided into
three periods:
(a) The Pathan . . 1191-1320
(b) The Tughlak . . 1320-1556
(c) The Moghal . . 1556-1753
In the Pathan period the royal builders drew their
inspiration from Ghaznf, but their work was also much
xxi]
ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS
205
affected by Hindu influences for two reasons. They
used the materials of Hindu temples in constructing their
mosques and they employed masons imbued with the
traditions of Hindu art. The best specimens of this
period are to be found in the group of buildings in Old
Fig. 77. Kutb Minar.
Delhi or Kila Rai Pithora, close to Mahrauli and eleven
miles to the south of the present city. These buildings
are the magnificent Kuwwat ul Islam (Might of Islam)
Mosque (1191-1225), with its splendid tower, the Kutb
Mindr (1200-1220), from which the mu'azzin called the
206
ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS [ch. xxi
faithful to prayer, the tomb of the Emperor Altamsh
(1238), and the great gateway built in 1310 by Ala ud din
Khalji. In the second period, named after the house
that occupied the imperial throne when it began, all
traces of Hindu influence have vanished, and the buildings
display the austere and massive grandeur suited to the
faith of the desert prophet unalloyed by foreign elements.
This style in its beginning is best seen in the cyclopean
Fig. 78 Tomb of Emperor Tughlak Shah.
ruins of Tughlakabad and the tomb of the Emperor
Tughlak Shah, and in some mosques in and near Delhi.
Its latest phase is represented by Sher Shah's mosque
in the Old Fort or Pur ana Kila' . To some the simple
grandeur of this style will appeal more strongly than
the splendid, but at times almost effeminate, beauty of
the third period. Noted examples of Moghal architecture
in the Panjab are to be found in Shahjahan's red fort
Fig- 79- Jama Masjid, Delhi.
Fig. 80. Tomb of Emperor Humayun.
208
ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS
[CH.
palace and Jama Masjid at New Delhi or Shahjahanabad,
Humayun's tomb on the road from Delhi to Mahrauli,
the fort palace, the Badshahi and Wazir Khan's mosques,
at Lahore, and Jahangir's mausoleum at Shahdara.
A very late building in this style is the tomb of Nawab
Safdar Jang (1753) near Delhi. A further account of
some of the most famous Muhammadan buildings will be
'
Fig. 81 Badshahi Mosque, Lahore.
found in the paragraphs devoted to the chief cities of
the province. The architecture of the British period
scarcely deserves notice.
Coins. — Among the most interesting of the archaeo-
logical remains are the coins which are found in great
abundance on the frontier and all over the Panjab.
These take us back through the centuries to times before
xxi] ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS 209
the invasion of India by Alexander, and for the obscure
period intervening between the Greek occupation of the
Frontier and the Muhammadan conquest, they are our
main source of history. The most ancient of the Indian
monetary issues are the so-called punch-marked coins,
some of which were undoubtedly in existence before the
Greek invasion. Alexander himself left no permanent
traces of his progress through the Panjab and Sindh, but
about the year 200 B.C., Greeks from Bactria, an outlying
province of the Seleukidan Empire, once more appeared
on the Indian Frontier, which they effectively occupied
for more than a century. They struck the well-known
Graeco-Bactrian coins; the most famous of the Indo-
Greek princes were Apollodotos and Menander. To-
wards the close of this dynasty, parts of Sindh and
Afghanistan were conquered by Saka Scythians from
Central Asia. They struck what are termed the Indo-
Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins bearing names in legible
Greek legends— Manes, Azes, Azilises, Gondophares,
Abdagases. Both Greeks and Sakas were overthrown
by the Kushans. The extensive gold and copper
Kushan currency, with inscriptions in the Greek script,
contains the names of Kadphises, Kanishka, Huvishka,
and others. In addition to the coins of these foreign
dynasties, there are the purely Indian currencies, e.g.
the coins of Taxila, and those bearing the names of such
tribes as the Odumbaras, Kunindas, and Yaudheyas.
The White Huns overthrew the Kushan Empire in the
fifth century. After their own fall in the sixth century,
there are more and more debased types of coinage such
as the ubiquitous Gadhiya paisa, a degraded Sassanian
type. In the ninth century we again meet with coins
bearing distinct names, the "bull and horseman" currency
of the Hindu kings of Kabul. We have now reached the
beginning of the Muhammadan rule in India. Muhammad
d. p. 14
-'
,C>vw,."'
10
Fig. 82. Coins.
11
1. Silver punch-marked coin. 2. Drachma of Sophytes (Panjab Satrap
about time of Alexander). 3. Hemidrachma of Azes. 4. Copper
coin of Taxila. 5. Silver Kuninda coin. 6. Stater of Wema
Kadphises. 7. Stater of Kanishka. 8. Later Kushan stater.
9. White Hun silver piece. 10. Gadhiya paisa. 11. Silver coin
of Spalapati Deva, Hindu King of Kabul.
ch. xxi] ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS 211
bin Sam was the founder of the first Pathan dynasty
of Delhi, and was succeeded by a long line of Sultans.
The Pathan and Moghal coins bear Arabic and Persian
legends. There were mints at Lahore, Multan, Hafizabad,
Kalanaur, Derajat, Peshawar, Srinagar and Jammu.
An issue of coins peculiar to the Panjab is that of the
Sikhs. Their coin legends, partly Persian, partly Panjabi,
are written in the Persian and Gurmukhi scripts.
Amongst Sikh mints were Amritsar, Lahore, Multan,
Dera, Anandgarh, Jhang, and Kashmir.
14 — 2
CHAPTER XXII
ADMINISTRATION — GENERAL
•
Pan jab Districts. — The administrative unit in the
Panjab is the district in charge of a Deputy Commissioner.
The districts are divided into tahsils, each on the average
containing four, and are grouped together in divisions
managed by Commissioners. There are 28 districts and
five divisions. An ordinary Panjab district has an area
of 2000 to 3000 square miles and contains from 1000 to
2000 village estates. Devon, the third in size of the
English counties, is about equal to an average Panjab
district.
Branches of Administration. — The provincial govern-
ments of India are organized in three branches, Executive,
Judicial, and Revenue, and a number of special depart-
ments, such as Forests and Irrigation. Under "Judicial"
there are two subdivisions, civil and criminal. The
tendency at first is for powers in all three branches to be
concentrated in the hands of single individuals, develop-
ment tends to specialization, but it is a matter of con-
troversy how far the separation of executive and
magisterial functions can be carried without jeopardy to
the common weal.
The Lieutenant Governor. — At the head of the whole
administration is the Lieutenant Governor, who holds
office for five years. He has a strong Secretariat to help
in the dispatch of business. The experiment of governing
the Panjab by a Board was speedily given up, and for
sixty years it has enjoyed the advantage of one man
government, the Lieutenant Governor controlling all sub-
ordinate authorities and being himself only controlled
ch. xxii] ADMINISTRATION— GENERAL
213
by the Governor General in Council. The independence
of the Courts in the exercise of judicial functions is of
course safeguarded.
Official hierarchy. — The following is a list of the
official hierarchy in the different branches of the adminis-
tration :
Lieutenant Governor.
Five Judges of Chief Court (j).
Two Financial Commissioners (r).
Five Commissioners, (e) and (r).
Sixteen Divisional and Sessions Judges (j).
Deputy Commissioners, (e), (r) and (crim).
District Judges (civ).
Subordinate Judges (civ).
Assistant and Extra Assistant Commissioners,
(e), (j) and (r).
K. Tahsilddrs (e), (r) and (crim).
L. Munsifs (civ).
M. Ndib-Tahsilddrs, (e) (r) and (_;').
The letters in brackets indicate the classes of functions
which the official concerned usually exercises. Trans-
lated into a diagram we have the following :
Lieutenant Governor
, : 1
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
J-
Judicial
I
Chief Court
Divisional and Sessions Judges
Executive
Commissioners-
1
Revenue
I
Financial
Commissioners
Civil
I
District Judges
Criminal
-Deputy Commissioners-
Subordinate
Judges
I
Munsifs
-Asst. and Extra Asst.
Commissioners
— Tahsilddrs —
1
1
-Ndib Tahsilddrs-
214 ADMINISTRATION— GENERAL [ch.
Tahsildars and Assistant and Extra Assistant Com-
missioners. Thus the chain of executive authority runs
down to the tahsildars assistant or ndib through the Com-
missioner and the Deputy Commissioner, the tahsilddr
being directly responsible to the latter. The Assistant
and Extra Assistant Commissioners are the Deputy
Commissioner's Assistants at headquarters, and as such
are invested with powers in all branches. The tahsilddr,
a very important functionary, is in charge of a tahsil. He
is linked on to the village estates by a double chain, one
official consisting of the kanungos and the patwdris or
village accountants whom they supervise, the other
non-official consisting of the village headmen and the
zailddrs, each of whom is the intermediary between the
revenue and police staffs and the villages.
Subdivisional Officers. — In some heavy districts one
or more tahsils are formed into a subdivision and put in
charge of a resident Assistant or Extra Assistant Com-
missioner, exercising such independent authority as the
Deputy Commissioner thinks fit to entrust to him.
The Deputy Commissioner and his Assistants. — As
the officer responsible for the maintenance of order the
Deputy Commissioner is District Magistrate and has
large powers both for the prevention and punishment of
crime. The District Superintendent is his Assistant in
police matters. The Civil Surgeon is also under his
control, and he has an Indian District Inspector of Schools
to assist him in educational business. The Deputy Com-
missioner is subject to the control of the Divisional
Commissioner.
Financial Commissioners. — In all matters connected
with land, excise, and income tax administration the
Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner are subject to
the control of the Financial Commissioners, who are
also the final appellate authority in revenue cases. As
xxn] ADMINISTRATION— GENERAL 215
chief district revenue officer the Deputy Commissioner's
proper title is "Collector," a term which indicates his
responsibility for the realization of all Government
revenues. In districts which are canal irrigated the
amount is in some cases very large.
Settlement Officers, etc. — With the periodical revisions
of the land revenue assessment the Deputy Commissioner
has no direct concern. That very responsible duty is
done by a special staff of Settlement Officers, selected
chiefly from among the Assistant Commissioners and
working under the Commissioners and Financial Com-
missioners. The Director of Land Records, the Registrar
of Co-operative Credit Societies, and in some branches of
his work the Director of Agriculture and Industries, are
controlled by the Financial Commissioners.
The Chief Court. — It must be admitted that Panjabfs
are very litigious and that in some tracts they are
extremely vindictive and reckless of human life. The
volume of litigation is swollen by the fact that the country
is one of small-holders subject as regards inheritance and
other matters to an uncodified customary law, which
may vary from tribe to tribe and tract to tract. A suit
is to the Panjabi a rubber, the last game of which he will
play in Lahore, if the law permits. It is not therefore
extraordinary that the Chief Court constituted in 1865
with two judges has now five, and that even this number
has in the past proved insufficient. In the same way
the cadre of divisional and sessions judges had in 1909 to
be raised from 12 to 16.
Administration of N. W. F. Province. — In the N. W. F.
Province no Commissioner is interposed between the
district officers and the Chief Commissioner, under whom
the Revenue Commissioner and the Judicial Commissioner
occupy pretty much the position of the Financial Com-
missioners and the Chief Court in the Pan jab.
216 ADMINISTRATION— GENERAL [ch. xxii
Departments. — The principal departments are the
Railway, Post Office, Telegraphs, and Accounts, under
the Government of India, and Irrigation, Roads and
Buildings, Forests, Police, Medical, and Education, under
the Lieutenant Governor. In matters affecting the rural
population, as a great part of the business of the Forest
Department must do, the Conservator of Forests is subject
to the control of the Financial Commissioners, whose
relations with the Irrigation Department are also very
intimate.
Legislative Council. — From 1897 to 1909 the Panjab
had a local Legislative Council of nine nominated members,
which passed a number of useful Acts. Under 9 Edward
VII, cap. 4, an enlarged council with increased powers
has been constituted. It consists of 24 members of whom
eight are elected, one by the University, one by the
Chamber of Commerce, three by groups of Municipal and
cantonment committees, and three by groups of district
boards. The other sixteen members are nominated by
the Lieutenant Governor, and at least six of them must
be persons not in Government service. The right of
interpellation has been given, and also some share in
shaping the financial arrangements embodied in the
annual budget.
CHAPTER XXIII
ADMINISTRATION — LOCAL
Municipalities. — It is matter for reflection that, while
the effect of British administration has been to weaken
self-government in villages, half a century of effort has
failed to make it a living thing in towns and districts.
The machinery exists, but outside a few towns the result
is poor. The attempt was made on too large a scale,
municipal institutions being bestowed on places which
were no more than villages with a bazar. This has been
partially corrected of late years. A new official entity,
the "notified area," has been invented to suit the require-
ments of such places. While there were in 1904 139
municipalities and 48 notified areas, in 1911-12 the figures
were 107 and 104 respectively. Even in the latter year
32 of the municipalities had incomes not exceeding
£1000 (Rs. 15,000). The total income of the 104 towns
was Rs. 71,41,000 (£476,000), of which Rs. 44,90,000
(£300,000) were derived from taxation. Nearly 90 p.c.
of the taxation was drawn from octroi, a hardy plant
which has survived much economic criticism. The
expenditure was Rs. 69,09,000 (£461,000), of which
Rs. 40,32,000 (£269,000) fall under the head of "Public
Health and Convenience." The incidence of taxation
was Rs. 2-6 or a little over three shillings a head.
218 ADMINISTRATION— LOCAL [ch. xxiii
District Boards. — The district boards can at present in
practice only be treated as consultative bodies, and well
handled can in that capacity play a useful role. Their
income is mainly derived from the local rate, a surcharge
of one-twelfth on the land revenue. In 1911-12 the
income was Rs. 53,74,000 (£358,000) and the expenditure
Rs. 54,44,500 (£363,000). The local rate contributed
51 p.c. and contributions from Government 23 p.c. of
the former figure. Public works took up 41 and Edu-
cation about 20 p.c. of the expenditure.
Elections. — Some of the seats in most of the munici-
palities and boards are filled by election when any one
can be induced to vote. Public spirit is lacking and,
as a rule, except when party or sectarian spirit is
rampant, the franchise is regarded with indifference.
CHAPTER XXIV
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
Financial Relations with Government of India. — Local
governments exercise their financial powers in strict
subordination to the Government of India, which alone
can borrow, and which requires the submission for its
sanction of the annual provincial budgets. To ensure
a reasonable amount of decentralization the Supreme
Government has made financial contracts with the pro-
vinces under which they receive definite shares of the
receipts, and are responsible for definite shares of the
expenditure, under particular heads. The existing con-
tract dates only from 1911-12 (see Table V).
Income and Expenditure. — Excluding income from
railways, post offices, telegraphs, salt, and sales of excise
opium, which are wholly imperial, the revenue of the
Panjab in 1911-12 was £5,057,000 (Rs. 758,56,000), of
which the provincial share was £2,662,200 (Rs. 399,33,000),
to which have to be added £251,800 (Rs. 37,77,000) on
account of assignments made by the Government of
India to the province. This brought up the total to
£2,914,000 (Rs. 437,10,000). The expenditure was
£2,691,933 (Rs. 403,79,000). This does not include
£983,000 spent from loan funds on irrigation works,
chiefly the great Triple Project. The large expenditure
on railways is imperial. Of the gross income more than
three-fourths is derived from the land (Land Revenue,
46 p.c, Irrigation, chiefly canal water rates, 29 p.c, and
220 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE [ch.
Forests, if p.c). The balance consists of Excise 8| p.c,
Stamps, 7 p.c, Income Tax over 2 p.c, and other heads
5f p.c.
Land Revenue. — Certain items are included under the
Land Revenue head which are no part of the assessment
of the land. The real land revenue of the Pan jab is
about £2,000,000 and falls roughly at the rate of eighteen
pence per cultivated acre (Table II). It is not a land
tax, but an extremely moderate quit rent. In India the
ruler has always taken a share of the produce of the land
from the persons in whom he recognised a permanent
right to occupy it or arrange for its tillage. The title
of the Raja to his share and the right of the occupier to
hold the land he tilled and pass it on to his children both
formed part of the customary law of the country. Under
Indian rule the Raja's share was often collected in kind,
and the proportion of the crop taken left the tiller of
the soil little or nothing beyond what was needed for
the bare support of himself and his family. What the
British Government did was to commute the share in
kind into a cash demand and gradually to limit its amount
to a reasonable figure. The need of moderation was not
learned without painful experience, but the Panjab was
fortunate in this that, except as regards the Delhi territory,
the lesson had been learned and a reasonable system
evolved in the United Provinces before the officers it
sent to the Panjab began the regular assessments of the
districts of the new province. A land revenue settlement
is usually made for a term of 20 or 30 years. Since i860
the limit of the government demand has been fixed at one-
half of the rental, but this figure is very rarely approached
in practice. Between a quarter and a third would be
nearer the mark. A large part of the land is tilled by
the owners, and the rent of the whole has to be calculated
from the data for the part, often not more than a third
xxiv] REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE 221
or two-fifths of the whole, cultivated by tenants at will.
The calculation is complicated by the fact that kind
rents consisting of a share of the crop are in most places
commoner than cash rents and are increasing in favour.
The determination of the cash value of the rent where
the crop is shared is a very difficult task. There is a
large margin for error, but there can be no doubt that the
net result has almost always been undervaluation. It is
probable that the share of the produce of the fields which
the land revenue absorbs rarely exceeds one-seventh and
is more often one-tenth or less. A clear proof of the
general moderation of Pan jab assessments is furnished
by the fact that in the three years ending 1910-n the
recorded prices in sales amounted to more than Rs. 125
per rupee of land revenue of the land sold, which may be
taken as implying a belief on the part of purchasers that
the landlord's rent is not double, but five or six times
the land revenue assessment, for a man would hardly
pay Rs. 125 unless he expected to get at least six or seven
rupees annual profit.
Fluctuating Assessments. — The old native plan of
taking a share of the crop, though it offered great oppor-
tunity for dishonesty on both sides, had at least the merit
of roughly adjusting the demand to the character of the
seasons. It was slowly realized that there were parts of
the province where the harvests were so precarious that
even a very moderate fixed cash assessment was unsuitable.
Various systems of fluctuating cash assessment have
therefore been introduced, and one-fourth of the total
demand is now of this character, the proportion having
been greatly increased by the adoption of the fluctuating
principle in the new canal colonies.
Suspensions and Remissions. — Where fixity is retained
the strain in bad seasons is lessened by a free use of
suspensions, and, if the amounts of which the collection
222 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE [ch. xxiv
has been deferred accumulate owing to a succession of
bad seasons, resort is had to remission.
Irrigation Income and Expenditure. — In a normal year
in the Panjab over one-fourth of the total crops is
matured by the help of Government Canals, and this
proportion will soon be largely increased. In 1911-12
the income from canals amounted to £1,474,000, and the
working expenses to £984,000, leaving a surplus of
£490,000. Nearly the whole of the income is derived
from water rates, which represent the price paid by the
cultivator for irrigation provided by State expenditure.
The rates vary for different crops and on different canals.
The average incidence may be roughly put at Rs. 4 or
a little over five shillings per acre. In calculating the
profit on canals allowance is made for land revenue
dependent on irrigation, amounting to nearly £400,000.
G
s
07
5
c
o
1>
CO
oo
bi
CHAPTER XXV
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
Districts and Divisions. — The Panjab now consists of
28 districts grouped in five divisions. In descriptions
of districts and states boundaries, railways, and roads,
which appear on the face of the inset maps, are omitted.
Details regarding cultivation and crops will be found in
Tables II, III and IV, and information as to places of
note in Chapter xxx. The revenue figures of Panjab
districts in this chapter relate to the year 1911-12.
Delhi Enclave. — On the transfer of the capital of
India to Delhi part of the area of the old district of
that name comprising 337 estates was removed from the
jurisdiction of the Panjab Government and brought
under the immediate authority of the Government of
India (Act No. XIII of 1912). The remainder of the
district was divided between Rohtak and Gurgaon, and
the headquarters of the Delhi division were transferred
to Ambala.
The area of the new province is only 528 square miles,
and the population including that of the City is estimated
at 396,997. The cultivated area is 340 square miles,
more than half of which is cultivated by the owners
themselves. The principal agricultural tribe is the Hindu
Jats, who are hard-working and thrifty peasant farmers.
The land revenue is Rs. 4,00,203 (£26,680). The above
figures only relate to the part of the enclave formerly
included in the Panjab1. The head of the administration
has the title of Chief Commissioner.
1 Some estates lying to the east of the Jamna and belonging to the
United Provinces have recently been added to the enclave.
ch. xxv] PANjAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 225
ridabad
9 a
Fig. 84. Delhi Enclave.
The Ambala division includes four of the five districts
of the South-Eastern Plains, the submontane
district of Ambala, and the hill district of
Simla. It is with the exception of Lahore
the smallest division, but it ranks first in
cultivated area and third in population. It
Area,
14,832 sq. m.
Cultd area,
10,650 sq. m.
Pod. 3,704,608;
68 p. c. H.1
Land Rev.
Rs. 66,99,136
£446,609.
1 H.=Hindu, M. =Muhammadan, S. =Sikh.
D. P.
15
226 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
is twice the size of Wales and has twice its population.
The Commissioner is in political charge of the hill state
of Sirmur and of five petty states in the plains.
Hissar District. — Hissar is the south-western district
of the division and has a long common
boundary with Bikaner. It is divided into
five tahsils, Hissar, Hansi, Bhiwani, Fateha-
bad, and Sirsa. There are four natural
divisions, Nali, Bagar, Rohi, and Hariana.
The overflow of the Ghagar, which runs through the
Area, 5213 sq. m.
Cultd area,
4201 sq. m.
Pop. 804,809;
67 p. c. H.
Land Rev.
Rs- 9.76,749
= £67,117.
Pht
«<j Uiki
Native States
Fig. 85. Hissar with portions of Phulkian States etc.
north of the district has transformed the lands on either
bank into hard intractable clay, which yields nothing to
the husbandman without copious floods. This is the Nali.
The Bagar is a region of rolling sand stretching along the
Bikaner border from Sirsa to Bhiwani. In Sirsa to the east
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 227
of the Bagar is a plain of very light reddish loam known as
the Rohi, partly watered by the Sirhind Canal. South of
the Ghagar the loam in the east of the district is firmer,
and well adapted to irrigation, which much of it obtains
from branches of the Western Jamna Canal. This tract
is known as Hariana, and has given its name to a famous
breed of cattle. The Government cattle farm at Hissar
covers an area of 65 square miles. North of the Fatehabad
tahsil and surrounded by villages belonging to the
Phulkian States is an island of British territory called
Budhlada. It belongs to the Jangal Des, and has the
characteristic drought-resisting sandy loam and sand of
that tract. Much of Budhlada is watered by the Sirhind
Canal. Of the total area of the district only about
9 p.c. is irrigated. The water level is so far from the
surface that well irrigation is usually impossible, and
the source of irrigation is canals.
Hissar suffered severely from the disorders which
followed on the collapse of the Moghal Empire and its
ruin was consummated by the terrible famine of 1783.
The starving people died or fled and for years the country
lay desolate. It passed into the hands of the British 20
years later, but for another 20 years our hold on this
outlying territory was loose and ineffective. In 1857
the troops at Hansi, Hissar, and Sirsa rose and killed all
the Europeans who fell into their hands. The Muham-
madan tribes followed their example, and for a time
British authority ceased to exist. The district was
part of the Delhi territory transferred to the Panjab in
1858.
The rainfall is scanty, averaging 15 inches, and ex-
tremely capricious. No other district suffers so much from
famine as Hissar. The crops are extraordinarily insecure,
with a large surplus in a good season and practically
nothing when the rains fail badly. They consist mainlv
15— 2
228
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
of the cheap pulses and millets. With such fluctuating
harvests it is impossible to collect the revenues with any
regularity, and large sums have to be suspended in bad
seasons.
Such industries as exist are mostly in Hansi and
Bhiwani, where there are mills for ginning and pressing
cotton. Cotton cloths tastefully embroidered with silk,
known as phulkdris, are a well-known local product.
Native State
Fig. 86.
Rohtak became a British possession in 1803, but it
was not till after the Mutiny that it was
brought wholly under direct British admin-
istration. The old district consisted of the
three tahsils of Rohtak, Gohana, and Jhajar,
but on the breaking up of the Delhi district the Sonepat
tahsil was added.
Rohtak is practically a purely agricultural tract with
Area, 2248 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1815 sq. m.
Pop. 714,834.
Land Rev.
Rs. 16,66,364
= £111,091.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 229
large villages, but no towns of any importance. By far
the most important agricultural tribe is the Hindu Jats.
They are strong-bodied sturdy farmers, who keep fine oxen
and splendid buffaloes, and live in large and well organized
village communities. 37 p.c. of the cultivation is pro-
tected by canal and well irrigation, the former being by
far the more important. The district consists mainly of
a plain of good loam soil. There have been great canal
extensions in this plain, which under irrigation is very
fertile, yielding excellent wheat, cotton, and cane.
There is a rich belt of well irrigation in the Jamna valley,
and in the south of the district there are parts where
wells can be profitably worked. Belts of uneven sandy
land are found especially in the west and south. The
dry cultivation is most precarious, for the rainfall is
extremely variable. In the old district it averages 20
inches. But averages in a tract like Rohtak mean very
little. The chief crops are the two millets and gram.
Gurgaon contains six tahsils, Rewari, Gurgaon, Nuh,
Area, 2264 sq. m. Firozpur, Palwal, and Ballabgarh. The
1701 Sq m. southern part of the district projects into
Pop. 729,167. 1
Land Rev- Raiputana, and in its physical and racial
Rs. 15,98,333 Jr r J
=£106,556. characteristics really belongs to that region.
Rewari is the only town of any importance. It has
a large trade with Rajputana. Apart from this the
interests of the district are agricultural. In Gurgaon
the Jamna valley is for the most part narrow and very
poor. The plain above it in the Palwal tahsil has a fertile
loam soil and is irrigated by the Agra Canal. The Hindu
Jats of this part of the district are good cultivators.
The rest of Gurgaon consists mostly of sand and sandy
loam and low bare hills. In Rewari the skill and industry
of the Hindu Ahirs have produced wonderful results
considering that many of the wells are salt and much of
the land very sandy. The lazy and thriftless Meos of
230
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
the southern part of the district are a great contrast to
the Ahirs. They are Muhammadans.
About a quarter of the area is protected by irrigation
from wells, the Agra Canal, and embankments or " bands,"
which catch and hold up the hill drainages. Owing to
the depth and saltness of many of the wells the cultivation
dependent on them is far from secure, and the "band"
irrigation is most precarious. The large dry area is
subject to extensive and complete crop failures. The
average rainfall over a series of years is 24 inches, but its
Mathra
Fig. 87.
irregularities from year to year are extreme. The district
is a poor one, and for its resources bears the heaviest
assessment in the Panjab. It requires the most careful
revenue management. There are brine wells at Sultanpur,
but the demand for the salt extracted is now very small.
Karnal is midway in size between Rohtak and Hissar.
One-third of the cultivation is now protected
by irrigation, two-fifths of the irrigation
being from wells and three-fifths from the
Western Jamna Canal. There are four tahsils,
Area, 3153 sq.m.
Cultd area,
1744 sq. m.
Pop. 799,787;
70 p.c. H.
Land Rev.
Rs. 12,92,620
= £86,175.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
231
Thanesar, Karnal, Kaithal, and Panipat. The peasantry
consists mostly of hardworking Hindu Jats, but there
are also many Hindu and Muhammadan Rajput villages.
The chief towns are Panipat, Karnal, and Kaithal.
The district falls broadly into two divisions, the
boundary between them being the southern limit of the
floods of the Sarusti in years of heavy rainfall. The
marked features of the northern division is the effect which
Miles ™t
Fig. 88.
the floods of torrents of intermittent flow, the Sarusti,
Markanda, Umla, and Ghagar have on agriculture. Some
tracts are included like the Andarwar and the outlying
villages of the Powadh1 in Kaithal which are fortunately
unaffected by inundation, and have good well irrigation.
The country between the Umla and Markanda in Thanesar
gets rich silt deposits and is generally fertile. The
Kaithal Naili is the tract affected by the overflow of the
1 Not shown in map.
232 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
Sarusti, Umla, and Ghagar. It is a wretched fever-
stricken region where a short lived race of weakly people
reap precarious harvests. The southern division is on
the whole a much better country. It includes the whole
of Karnal and Panipat, the south of Kaithal, and a
small tract in the extreme east of the Thanesar tahsil.
North of Karnal the Jamna valley or Khadir is unhealthy
and has in many parts a poor soil. South of Karnal it
is much better in every respect. Above the Khadir is
the Bangar, a plain of good loam. North of Karnal
its cultivation is protected by wells and the people are
in fair circumstances. South of that town it is watered
by the Western Jamna Canal. Another slight rise brings
one to the Nardak of the Karnal and Kaithal tahsils.
Till the excavation of the Sirsa branch of the Western
Jamna Canal and of the Nardak Distributary much of
the Nardak was covered with dlidk jangal, and the
cultivation was of the most precarious nature, for in this
part of the district the rainfall is both scanty and
capricious, and well cultivation is only possible in the
north. The introduction of canal irrigation has effected an
enormous change. Wheat and gram are the great crops.
Historically Karnal is one of the most interesting
districts. The Nardak is the scene of the great struggle
celebrated in the Mahabharata. The district contains
the holy city of Thanesar, once the capital of a great
Hindu kingdom. It has found climate a more potent
instrument of ruin than the sword of Mahmud of Ghazni,
who sacked it in 1014. It still on the occasion of Eclipse
fairs attracts enormous crowds of pilgrims. Pihowa is
another very sacred place. Naraina, a few miles to the
north-west of Karnal, was the scene of two famous
fights1, and three times, in 1526, 1556, and 1761, the
fate of India was decided at Panipat.
1 See page 169.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 233
Ambala is a submontane district of very irregular
Area, 1851sq.m. shape. It includes two small hill tracts,
Morni and Kasauli. There is little irrigation,
for in most parts the rainfall is ample.
Wheat is the chief crop. The population
has been declining in the past 20 years.
Cultd area,
1 174 sq. m.
Pop. 689,970.
Land Rev.
Rs. 11,47,688
= £76,513-
K a r n al
Scale
10 20 30 1
' Miles
Native States
Fig. 89.
The only town of importance is Ambala. Jagadhri
is a busy little place now connected through private
enterprise by a light railway with the N. W. Railway.
The district consists of two parts almost severed from one
another physically and wholly different as regards people,
language, and agricultural prosperity. The Rupar sub-
division in the north-west beyond the Ghagar has a fertile
soil, and, except in the Naif, as the tract flooded by the
Ghagar is called, a vigorous Jat peasantry, whose native
tongue is Panjabi. The three south-eastern lahsils,
234 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
Ambala, Naraingarh, and Jagadhri, are weaker in every
respect. The loam is often quite good, but interspersed
with it are tracts of stubborn clay largely put under
precarious rice crops. The Jats are not nearly so good
as those of Rupar, and Rajputs, who are mostly Musul-
mans, own a large number of estates.
Simla consists of three little tracts in the hills known
a , ,„, m as Bharauli, Kotkhai, and Kotgarh, and of
Area, 101 sq. m. ' O '
is'sq ama' patches of territory forming the cantonments
^gii^g^t'o. of Dagshai, Subathu, Solon, and Jutogh, the
rsI^t^ site of the Lawrence Military School at
Sanawar, and the great hill station of Simla.
Bharauli lies south-west of Simla in the direction of
Kasauli. Kotkhai is in the valley of the Giri, a tributary
of the Jamna. Kotgarh is on the Sutlej and borders on
the Bashahr State. The Deputy Commissioner of Simla
is also Superintendent or Political Officer of 28 hill states.
Jalandhar Division. — More than half the area of the
Area Jalandhar division is contributed by the huge
cuitdlrea m- district of Kangra, which stretches from the
p70p2 3?96™'724. Plains to the lofty snowy ranges on the borders
r^mm,'^ of Tibet. The other districts are Hoshyarpur
= £410,945- m ^g submontane zone, Jalandhar and Lu-
dhiana, which belong to the Central Plains, and Ferozepore,
which is part of the South-Eastern Panjab. Sikhs are
more numerous than in any other division, but are out-
numbered by both Hindus and Muhammadans. The
Commissioner has political charge of the hill states of
Mandi and Suket and of Kapurthala in the Plains.
Kangra is the largest district in the Panjab. It
Area 9878 s m includes three tracts of very different char-
n^if'rn3' acter I
910 sq. m.
94Ppc7H386; ia) Spiti and Lahul, area exceeding 4400
^"9,26,661 square miles, forming part of Tibet ;
= £61,777. (&) Kulu and Sar^j.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
(c) Kangra proper, area 2939 square miles.
235
Kashmir
w 0
Scale
20 40
60
Miles
Fig. 90.
Lahul, Spiti, Kuril, and Saraj form a subdivision in
charge of an Assistant Commissioner. The people of
Kangra are Hindus. Islam never penetrated into these
hills as a religion, though the Rajput Rajas of Kangra
became loyal subjects of the Moghal Emperors. In its
last days Ranjit Singh called in as an ally against the
Gurkhas remained as a hated ruler. The country was
ceded to the British Government in 1846. The Rajas
were chagrined that we did not restore to them their
royal authority, but only awarded them the status of
jagirddrs. An outbreak, which was easily suppressed,
occurred in 1848. Since then Kangra has enjoyed 65
236 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
years of peace. A Gurkha regiment is stationed at the
district headquarters at Dharmsala. The cultivation
ranges from the rich maize and rice fields of Kulu and
Kangra to the poor buckwheat and kulath on mountain
slopes. Rice is irrigated by means of kuhls, ingeniously
constructed channels to lead the water of the torrents on
to the fields.
Spiti and Lahul.— Spiti, or rather Piti, is a country of
great rugged mountains, whose bare red and yellow
rocks rise into crests of everlasting snow showing clear
under a cloudless blue sky. There is no rain, but in winter
the snowfall is heavy. The highest of the mountains
exceeds 23,000 feet. Piti is drained by the river of the
same name, which after passing through Bashahr falls
into the Sutlej at an elevation of 11,000 feet. Of the few
villages several stand at a height of from 13,000 to 14,000
feet. The route to Piti from Kulu passes over the Hamtu
Pass (14,200 feet) and the great Shigri glacier. The people
are Buddhists. They are governed by their hereditary
ruler or Nono assisted by five elders, the Assistant
Commissioner exercising a general supervision. Indian
laws do not apply to the sparse population of this remote
canton, which has a special regulation of its own. Lahul
lies to the west of Piti, from which it is separated by a
lofty range. It is entered from Kulu by the Rotang
Pass (13,000 feet) and the road from it to Ladakh passes
over the Baralacha (16,350 feet). The whole country is
under snow from December to April, but there is very
little rain. The two streams, the Chandra and Bhaga,
which unite to form the Chenab, flow through Lahul and
the few villages are situated at a height of 10,000 feet in
their elevated valleys. The people are Buddhists. In
summer the population is increased by " Gaddi " shepherds
from Kangra, who drive lean flocks in the beginning of
June over the Rotang and take them back from the
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
237
Alpine pastures in the middle of September fat and well
liking.
Kulu and Saraj. — The Kulu Valley, set in a mountain
frame and with the Bias, here a highland stream, running
through the heart of it, is one of the fairest parts of the
Panjab Himalaya. Manali, at the top of the Valley on
the road to the Rotang, is a very beautiful spot. Kulu
Fig. 91. Bias at Manali.
is connected with Kangra through Mandi by the Babbu
and Dulchi passes. The latter is generally open the whole
year round. The headquarters are at Sultanpur, but
the Assistant Commissioner lives at Nagar. In Kulu
the cultivation is often valuable and the people are well
off. The climate is good and excellent apples and pears
are grown by European settlers. Inner and outer Saraj
are connected by the Jalaori Pass on the watershed of the
Sutlej and Bias. Saraj is a much rougher and poorer
country than Kulu. There are good deodar forests in
238 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch. xxv
the Kulu subdivision. In 191 1 the population of Kulu,
Saraj, Lahul, and Piti, numbered 124,803. The Kulu
people are a simple folk in whose primitive religion local
godlings of brass each with his little strip of territory take
the place of the Brahmanic gods. It is a quaint sight to
see their ministers carrying them on litters to the fair at
Sultanpur, where they all pay their respects to a little
Fig. 92. Religious Fair in Kulu.
silver god known as Raghunathji, who is in a way their
suzerain.
Kangra proper is bounded on the north by the lofty
wall of the Dhaula Dhar and separated from Kulu by
the mountains of Bara Bangahal. It consists of the
five taksils of Kangra, Palampur, Nurpur, Dera, and
Hamirpur. The first two occupy the rich and beautiful
Kangra Valley. They are separated from the other three
tahsils by a medley of low hills with a general trend from
Fig. 93, Kulu Women.
240
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
N.W. to S.E. They are drained by the Bias, and are
much more broken and poorer than the Kangra Valley.
The tea industry, once important, is now dead so far
as carried on by English planters. The low hills have
extensive chir pine forests. They have to be managed
mainly in the interests of the local population, and are
so burdened with rights that conservation is a very
difficult problem. In 1911 the population of the five
tahsils amounted to 645,583. The most important tribes
£" A.^1
■&
Fig. 94.
The
are Brahmans, Rajputs, and hardworking Girths.
hill Brahman is usually a farmer pure and simple.
Hoshyarpur became a British possession in 1846 after
the first Sikh War. It is a typically sub-
montane district. A line of low bare hills
known as the Solasinghi Range divides it
from Kangra. Further west the Katar dhar,
a part of the Siwaliks, runs through the heart
Area, 2247 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1 1 28 sq. m.
Pop. 918,569;
54 P-c H.
Land Rev.
Rs. 14,22,527
= f94,835-
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 241
of the district. Between these two ranges lies the fertile
Jaswan Dun corresponding to the Una tahsil. The other
three tahsils, Garhshankar, Hoshyarpur, and Dasuya,
are to the west of the Katar dhar. Una is drained
by the Soan, a tributary of the Sutlej. The western
tahsils have a light loam soil of great fertility, except
where it has been overlaid by sand from the numerous
chos or torrents which issue from the Siwaliks. The
denudation of that range was allowed to go on for an
inordinate time with disastrous results to the plains
below. At last the Panjab Land Preservation (Chos)
Act II of 1890 gave the Government power to deal with
the evil, but it will take many years to remedy the
mischief wrought by past inaction. The rainfall averages
about 32 inches and the crops are secure. The population
has fallen off by 93,000 in 20 years, a striking instance of
the ravages of plague. The chief tribes are Jats, Rajputs,
and Gujars.
Jalandhar District. — Modern though the town of
Area i4 i s m Jalandhar looks it was the capital of a
^o6odsq'em. large Hindu kingdom, which included also
45OPp.c8om920; Hoshyarpur, Mandi, Suket, and Chamba, and
II p.'c! s.' m the ninth century was a rival of Kashmir
Rtni4R7e7V,66i (Page I0°). The present district is with the
exception of Simla the smallest, and for its
size the richest, in the province. It contains four tahsils,
Nawashahr, Phillaur, Jalandhar, and Nakodar. About
45 p.c. of the cultivation is protected by 28,000 wells.
Behind the long river frontage on the Sutlej is the Bet,
divided by a high bank from the more fertile uplands.
The soil of the latter is generally an excellent loam, but
there is a good deal of sand in the west of the district.
The rainfall averages about 26 inches and the climate is
healthy. The well cultivation is the best in the Panjab.
Between 1901 and 1911 the population declined by 13 p.c.
d. p. 16
-'4-
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
Jats and Arains, both excellent cultivators, are the pre-
dominant tribes. British rule dates from 1846.
Native States
Fig- 95-
Area, 1452 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1 1 43 sq. m.
Pop. 5I7,I92;
40 p.c. S.
35 p.c. M.
25 p.c. H.
Land Rev.
Rs. n.57.399
= £77.16°.
Ludhiana on the opposite bank of the Sutlej is also a
very small district. It consists of a river
Bet and Uplands with generally speaking a
good loam soil. But there are very sandy
outlying estates in the Jangal Des surrounded
by Patiala and Jind villages. There are
three tahsils, Samrala, Ludhiana, and Ja-
graon. Of the cultivated area 26 p.c. is irrigated, from
wells (19) and from the Sirhind Canal (7). Wheat and
gram are the principal crops. Between 1901 and 1911
the population fell from 673,097 to 517,192, the chief
cause of decline being plague.
Sturdy hard-working Jats are the backbone of the
peasantry. They furnish many recruits to the Army.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 243
Ludhiana is a thriving town and an important station
on the N.W. Railway. Our connection with Ludhiana
began in 1809, and the district assumed practically its
present shape in 1846 after the first Sikh War.
Jallandhar
Native States
Fig. 96,
Ferozepore is a very large district. The Faridkot
State nearly cuts it in two. The northern
division includes the tahsils of Ferozepore,
Zira, and Moga, the last with an outlying
tract known as Mahraj, which forms an
island surrounded by the territory of several
native states. The southern division contains
the tahsils of Muktsar and Fazilka. Our connection with
Area, 4286 sq. m.
Cultd area,
3504 sq. m.
Pop. 959,657;
44 p.c. M.
29 p.c. H.
27 p.c. S.
Land Rev.
Rs. 11,79,924
= £78,661.
I6-
244 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
Ferozepore began in 1809, and, when the widow of the
last Sikh chief of Ferozepore died in 1835, we assumed
direct responsibility for the administration of a consider-
able part of the district. Two of the great battles of the
first Sikh War, Mudki and Ferozeshah or more properly
Pherushahr, were fought within its borders. Mamdot with
*„
Native State
Fig. 97-
an area of about 400 square miles ceased to be independent
in 1855, but the descendant of the last ruler still holds
it in jagir. Fazilka was added in 1864 when the Sirsa
district was broken up. Of the cultivated area 47! p.c.
is irrigated by the Sirhind Canal, the Grey Inundation
Canals, and wells. For the most part the district is
divided into three tracts, the riverain, Hithar or Bet,
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 245
with a poor clay soil and a weak population, the Utar,
representing river deposits of an older date when the
Sutlej ran far west of its present bed, and the Rohi, an
upland plain of good sandy loam, now largely irrigated
by the Sirhind Canal. The Grey Canals furnish a far
less satisfactory source of irrigation to villages in the
Bet and Utar. In different parts of this huge district the
rainfall varies from 10 to 22 inches. The chief crops
are gram and wheat. The Tats are the chief tribe. In
the Uplands they are a fine sturdy race, but unfortunately
they are addicted to strong drink, and violent crime is
rife. Ferozepore has a large cantonment and arsenal
and a big trade in grain. It is an important railway
junction.
Lahore Division. — Lahore is the smallest division, but
Area, the first in population. Its political im-
cu'itd area,' ' portance is great as the home of the Sikhs
pop 4,656.629; of the Maniha, and because the capital of
57 o.c. M. J r
24 ,. h. the province and the sacred city of the
Land Rev. Khdlsa are both within its limits. It con-
Rs. 70,53,856
=£470.257- tains the five districts of Gurdaspur, Sialkot,
Gujranwala, Lahore, and Amritsar. The Commissioner
is in political charge of the Chamba State.
Gurdaspur is a submontane district with a good
Area, !8o9 sq. m. rainfall and a large amount of irrigation,
i^sq^m. The crops are secure except in part of the
49 p".c.3m.771 ; Shakargarh tahsil. 27 p.c. of the cultivated
14.V" "' area is irrigated, 16 by wells and n by the
Rsni7,68,4i2 Upper Bar! Doab Canal. Irrigation is only
allowed from the Canal for the Autumn
harvest. The chief crop is wheat and the area under
cane is unusually large. Of late years plague has been
very fatal and the population fell from 940,334 in 1901
to 836,771 in 1911. Jats, Rajputs, Arains, Giijars, and
Brahmans, are the chief agricultural tribes, the first being
246 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
by far the most important element. There are four
tahsils, Batala, Gurdaspur, and Pathankot in the Bari
Doab, and Shakargarh to the west of the Ravi. Batala
is one of the most fertile and prosperous tracts in the
Pan jab and Gurdaspur is also thriving. Pathankot is
damp, fever stricken, and unprosperous. It lies mostly
alhousie
Bakloh
Miles
Fig. 98.
in the plains but contains a considerable area in the low
hills and higher up two enclaves, Bakloh and Dalhousie,
surrounded by Chamba villages. Shakargarh is much
more healthy, and is better off than Pathankot. There is
good duck and snipe shooting to be got in some parts of
the district, as the drainage from the hills collects in
swamps and jhils.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
247
Sialkot is another secure and fully cultivated submon-
tane district. It lies wholly in the Rechna
Doab and includes a small well-watered hilly
tract, Bajwat, on the borders of Jammu.
The Ravi divides Sialkot from Amritsar
and the Chenab separates it from Gujrat.
The Degh and some smaller torrents run
through the district. In the south there is much hard
Area, 1991 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1427 sq. m.
Pop. 979,553;
62 p.c. M.
25 ,, H.
8 „ S.
Land Rev.
Rs. 14,79,390
= £98,626.
Miles
Fig. 99.
sour clay, part hitherto unculturable. But irrigation
from the Upper Chenab Canal will give a new value to it.
There are five tahsils, Zafarwal, Sialkot, Daska, Pasnir,
248
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
and Raya. The chief crop is wheat which is largely
grown on the wells, numbering 22,000. The pressure of
the population on the soil was considerable, but since
1891 the total has fallen from 1,119,847 to 979,553 as the
result of plague and emigration to the new canal colonies.
rabad
hahdara
Fig. 100.
Christianity has obtained a considerable number of con-
verts in Sialkot. The Tats form the backbone of the
peasantry. Rajputs and Arains are also important tribes,
but together they are not half as numerous as the Tats.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 249
Gujranwala is a very large district in the Rechna
Area, 4802 sq. m. Doab, with five tahsils, Wazirabad, Gujran-
2166 Sq. m. wala, Sharakpur, Hafizabad, and Khangah
Pop. 923,419. , .
Land Rev. Dogran. The rainfall varies from 20 inches
Rs. 15,43,440
= £102,896.' on the Sialkot border to ten or eleven in the
extreme south-west corner of the district. Gujranwala
is naturally divided into three tracts : the Riverain of the
Ravi and Chenab, the Bangar or well tract, and the Bar
once very partially cultivated, but now commanded by
the Lower and Upper Chenab Canals. Enormous develop-
ment has taken place in the Hafizabad and Khangah
Dogran tahsils in the 20 years since the Lower Chenab
Canal was opened. Of late years the rest of the district
has suffered from plague and emigration, and has not
prospered. But a great change will be effected by
irrigation from the Upper Chenab Canal, which is just
beginning. In the east of the district much sour clay
will become culturable land, and the Bar will be trans-
formed as in the two tahsils watered by the older canal.
Of the cultivated area 73! p.c. is irrigated, 36^ from
wells and 37 from canals'. The chief crops are wheat
and gram. There is, as is usual in the Western Panjab,
a great preponderance of Spring crops. The Jats are far
and away the strongest element in the population.
Amritsar is a small district lying in the Bari Doab
Area, 1601 sq. m. between Gurdaspur and Lahore. 62 p.c. of
i^sq^m. the cultivated area is irrigated, half from
46Pp.c.8M728: 12,000 wells and half from the Upper Bari
l\ " h. Doab Canal. Unfortunately much water-
Land Rev. 1 . . 1 . . c ,
rs. 12,70,799 logging exists, due to excessive use of canal
water and defective drainage. Measures are
now being taken to deal with this great evil, which has
made the town of Amritsar and other parts of the district
liable to serious outbreaks of fever. There are two small
riverain tracts on the Bias and Ravi and a poor piece of
250 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
country in Ajnala flooded by the Sakki. The main part of
the district is a monotonous plain of fertile loam. The two
western tahsils, Amritsar and Tarn Taran, are prosperous,
Ajnala is depressed. The rainfall is moderate averaging
21 or 22 inches, and the large amount of irrigation makes
the harvests secure. The chief crops are wheat and gram.
Fig. ioi.
The Sikh Jats of the Manjha to the south of the Grand
Trunk Road form by far the most important element in
the population. Between 1901 and 1911 there was a
falling off from 1,023,828 to 880,728. Besides its re-
ligious importance the town of Amritsar is a great
trade centre.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 251
Lahore lies in the Bari Doab to the south-west of
Amritsar. It is a much larger district,
though, like Amritsar, it has only three
tahsils, Lahore, Kasiir, and Chunian. 76 p.c.
of the cultivated area is irrigated, 23 from
wells and 53 from canals. There has been an enormous
Area, 2824 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1866 sq. m.
Pop. 1,036,158.
Land Rev.
Rs. 991,815
= £66,121.
3J>Miles
Fig. 102.
extension of irrigation from the Upper Bari Doab Canal
in the past 30 years. Accordingly, though the rainfall
is somewhat scanty, the crops are generally secure.
The principal are wheat and gram. The district consists
of the Riverain on the Bias and Ravi, the latter extending
252
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
to both sides of the river, and the plain of the Manjha,
largely held by strong and energetic Sikh Jats. In the
Ravi valley industrious Arains predominate. Railway
communications are excellent. Trade activity is not
confined to the city of Lahore. Kasur, Chunian, and
Raiwind are important local centres.
The Rawalpindi Division occupies the N.W. of the
Panjab. It is in area the second largest
division, but in population the smallest.
Five-sixths of the people profess the faith
of Islam. It includes six districts, Gujrat,
Jhelam, Rawalpindi, Attock, Mianwali, and
Shahpur. This is the division from which the Panjab
Musalmans, who form so valuable an element in our
army, are drawn.
Area,
21,361 sq. m.
Cultd area,
8099 sq. m.
Pop- 3>353,0S2;
87 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 50,43,587
= £336,239.
Jhelam
Fig. 103.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 253
Gujrat lies in the Jech Doab. The two northern
Area, 2357 Sq. m. tahsils, Gujrat and Kharian, have many of
1369 sq.m. the features of a submontane tract. In the
Land Rev. former the Pabbi, a small ranee of low bare
Rs. 887,220
= £59.148. hills, runs parallel to the Jhelam, and the
outliers of the Himalaya in Kashmir are not far from
the northern border of the district. The uplands of
these two tahsils slope pretty rapidly from N.E. to S.W.,
and contain much light soil. They are traversed by sandy
torrents, dry in winter, but sometimes very destructive
in the rains. Phalia on the other hand is a typical plain's
tahsil. It has on the Chenab a wide riverain, which also
separates the uplands of the Gujrat tahsil from that river.
The Jhelam valley is much narrower. Above the present
Chenab alluvial tract there is in Phalia a well tract known
as the Hithar whose soil consists of older river deposits,
and at a higher level a Bar, which will now receive
irrigation from the Upper Jhelam Canal and become a
rich agricultural tract. 26 p.c. of the cultivated area is
irrigated from wells. Jats and Gujars are the great agri-
cultural tribes, the former predominating. The climate
is mild and the rainfall sufficient. The chief crops are
wheat and bdjra.
The Jhelam district lies to the north of the river of
a„„ ,«,„ the same name. The district is divided into
Area, 2013 sq. m.
ii62dsq'em. three tahsils, Jhelam, Chakwal, Pind Dadan
88 p'.cSim.57S; Khan. The river frontage is long, extending
j^n^5^s8 for about 80 miles, and the river valley
=£50,183. -g akout eight miles wide. The district
contains part of the Salt Range, from the eastern end of
which the Nili and Tilla spurs strike northwards, enclosing
very broken ravine country called the Khuddar. The Pabbi
tract, embracing the Chakwal tahsil and the north of the
Jhelam tahsil, is much less broken, though it too is scored
by deep ravines and traversed by torrents, mostly flowing
254
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
[CH.
north-west into the Sohan river. Two large torrents, the
Kaha and the Bunhar, drain into the Jhelam. There are
some fertile valleys enclosed in the bare hills of the Salt
Range. The average rainfall is about 20 inches and the
climate is good. It is hot in summer, but the cold weather
is long, and sometimes for short periods severe. There
is little irrigation and the harvests are by no means
secure. The chief crops are wheat and bdjra. The country
A t.toc/f
R
a w
Q/
ShanP
Miles
Fig. 104.
breeds fine horses, fine cattle, and fine men. Numerically
Tats, Rajputs, and Awans are the principal tribes, but
the Janjuas and Gakkhars, though fewer in number, are
an interesting element in the population, having great
traditions behind them. Awans, Janjuas, and Gakkhars
supply valuable recruits to the army. Most of the villages
are far from any railway.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 255
Rawalpindi is the smallest district in the division.
Area, 2010 sq.m. Along the whole eastern border the Jhelam,
which runs in a deep gorge, divides it from
Kashmir. There are four tahsils, Murree,
Kahuta, Rawalpindi, and Gujar Khan. The
first is a small wedge of mountainous
country between Kashmir and Hazara. The hills are
Cultd area
937 sq. m.
Pop. 547,827;
83 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 674,650
= £44.977-
J h e
Scale
10
Miles
Fig. 105.
continued southwards at a lower level in the Kahuta
tahsil parallel with the Jhelam. The greater part of the
district consists of a high plateau of good light loam, in
parts much eaten into by ravines. Where, as often
happens, it is not flat the fields have to be carefully
banked up. The plateau is drained by the Sohan
256
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
and the Kanshi. The latter starting in the south
of Kahuta runs through the south-east of the Gujar
Khan tahsil, and for some miles forms the boundary of
the Rawalpindi and Jhelam districts. The district is
very fully cultivated except in the hills. In the plains
the rainfall is sufficient and the soil very cool and clean,
except in the extreme west, where it is sometimes gritty,
and, while requiring more, gets less, rain. The chief
crops are wheat, the Kharif pulses and bdjra. The
Fig. 106. Shop in Murree Bazar.
climate is good. The cold weather is long, and, except
in January and February, when the winds from the
snows are very trying, it is pleasant. In the plains the
chief tribes are Rajputs and A wans. Gakkhars are of
some importance in Kahuta. In the Murree the leading
tribes are the Dhunds and the Sattis, the latter a fine
race, keen on military service.
Rawalpindi is the largest cantonment in Northern
India. From it the favourite hill station of Murree is
easily reached, and soon after leaving Murree the traveller
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
257
crosses the Jhelam by the Kohala bridge and enters the
territory of the Maharaja of Kashmir.
Attock district.— Though Attock is twice the size of
Rawalpindi it has a smaller population.
Area, 4025 sq. m. r
cuitd area, Nature has decreed that it should be sparsely
1678 sq. m. x J
pop. 519,273; peopled. The district stretches from the Salt
91 p.c. M. r r
Land Rev. Ranee on the south to the Hazara border
Rs. 672,851 o
= £44,857- on the north. It contains itself the fine
Hasan Abdal
Fig. 107.
D. p.
Miles
17
258 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
Kalachitta range in the north, the small and barren Khairi
Miirat range in the centre, and a line of bare hills running
parallel with the Indus in the west. That river forms
the western boundary for 120 miles, dividing Attock
from Peshawar and Kohat. It receives in the Attock
district two tributaries, the Haro and the Soan. There
are four tahsils, Attock, Fatehjang, Pindigheb, and
Talagang. The northern tahsil of Attock is most favoured
by nature. It contains the Cbach plain, part of which
has a rich soil and valuable well irrigation, also on the
Hazara border a small group of estates watered by cuts
from the Haro. The south of the tahsil is partly sandy
and partly has a dry gritty or stony soil. Here the
crops are very insecure. The rest of the district is a
plateau. The northern part consists of the tahsils of
Fatehjang and Pindigheb drained by the Soan and its
tributary the Sil. The southern is occupied by tahsil
Talagang, a rough plateau with deep ravines and torrents
draining northwards into the Soan. In the valleys of
the Sil and Soan some good crops are raised. The soil
of the plateau is very shallow, and the rainfall being
scanty the harvest is often dried up. The chief crops
are wheat and bdjra. Awans form the bulk of the
agricultural population.
Mianwali is one of the largest districts, but has the
Area, 5395 sq.m. smallest population of any except Simla.
io2odSqr.em. The Indus has a course of about 180 miles
88°Pp.c4M377: in Mianwali. In the north it forms the
^"35^836 boundary between the Mianwali tahsil and
= £23,989. ^e small Isakhel tahsil on the right bank. In
the south it divides the huge Bhakkar tahsil, which is bigger
than an average district, from the Dera Ismail Khan
district of the N.W.F. Province. It is joined from the
west by the Kurram, which has a short course in the south
of the Isakhel tahsil. The Salt Range extends into the
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
259
district, throwing off from its western extremity a spur
which runs north to the Indus opposite Kalabagh. Four
tracts may be distinguished, two large and two small.
North and east of the Salt Range is the Khuddar or
ravine country, a little bit of the Awankari or Awan's
Ko hat
^^affargarh
Scale
20
Fig. 108.
land, which occupies a large space in Attock. West of
the Indus in the north the wild and desolate Bhangi Khel
glen with its very scanty and scattered cultivation runs
north to the Kohat Hills. The rest of the district consists
of the wide and flat valley of the Indus and the Thai or
Uplands. In the north the latter includes an area of
strong thirsty loam, but south of the railway it is a huge
17 — 2
260 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
expanse of sand rising frequently into hillocks and ridges
with some fertile bottoms of better soil. Except in the
north the Thai people used to make their living almost
entirely as shepherds and camel owners. There were
scattered little plots of better soil where wells were sunk,
and the laborious and careful cultivation was and is
Dutch in its neatness. Some millets were grown in the
autumn and the sandhills yielded melons. The people
have now learned that it is worth while to gamble with
a spring crop of gram, and this has led to an enormous
extension of the cultivated area. But even now in Mian-
wali this is a comparatively small fraction of the total
area. There is a small amount of irrigation from wells
and in the neighbourhood of Isakhel from canal cuts
from the Kurram. Owing to the extreme scantiness of
the rainfall the riverain depends almost entirely on
the Indus floods, to assist the spread of which a number
of embankments are maintained. Everywhere in Mian-
wali the areas both of crops sown and of crops that ripen
fluctuate enormously, and much of the revenue has
accordingly been put on a fluctuating basis. The chief
crops are wheat, bdjra, and gram. Jats1 are in a great
majority Cis-Indus, but Pathans are important in Isakhel.
Shahpur is also a very large district with the three
Area, 4791 sq. m. tahsils of Bhera, Shahpur, and Sargodha in
1933 sq.m. the Tech Doab, and on the west of the
Pop. 648,989. ^
Land Rev. Thelam the huge Khushab tahsil, which in
Rs. 16,96,272 J °
= £1x3,085. size exceeds the other three put together.
The principal tribes are Jats Cis-Jhelam, Awans in
the Salt Range, and Jats and Tiwanas in Khushab. The
Tiwana Maliks have large estates on both sides of the
river and much local influence. East of the Jhelam the
colonization of the Bar after the opening of the Lower
Jhelam Canal has led to a great increase of population
1 This leading tribe in the Panjab is known as Jat in the Hindi-
speaking Eastern districts and as Jat elsewhere.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
261
and a vast extension of the cultivated area, 71 p.c.
of which is irrigated. The part of the district in the
Jech Doab consists of the river valleys of the Chenab
and Jhelam, the Utar, and the Bar. The Chenab
riverain is poor, the Jhelam very fertile with good well
irrigation. In the north of the district the Utar, a tract
of older alluvium, lies between the present valley of the
40
j Miles
Fig. 109.
Jhelam and the Bar. It has hitherto been largely
irrigated by public and private inundation canals, but
this form of irrigation may be superseded by the excava-
tion of a new distributary from the Lower Jhelam Canal.
Till the opening of that canal the Bar was a vast
grazing area with a little cultivation on scattered wells
and in natural hollows. North of the Kirana Hill
the soil is excellent and the country is now a sheet of
262 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
cultivation. In the south of the Bar much of the land
is too poor to be worth tillage. The Khushab tahsil
consists of the Jhelam riverain, the Salt Range with
some fertile valleys hidden amid barren hills, the Mohar
below the hills with a thirsty soil dependent on extremely
precarious torrent floods, and the Thai, similar to that
described on page 260. The rainfall of the district is
scanty averaging eleven or twelve inches. The chief
crops are wheat, bdjra and jowdr, chart and cotton.
The Multan division consists of the six districts of
Area,js the S.W. Panjab, Montgomery, Lyallpur,
cuitdarea, Thang, Multan, Muzaffargarh, and Dera
9160 sq. m. ^ ° 0 »
p°p- 3,772,728; Ghazi Khan. Muhammadans are in an
78 p.c. M.
Rsn8iR4e8'io overwhelming majority. Wheat and cotton
= £542,872. are the chief crops.
The Montgomery district takes its name from Sir Robert
Area, 4649 sq.m. Montgomery (page 192). It lies in the Bari
£*?sq?SL Doab between the Sutlej and the Ravi. It
7Sp.cS3M.2"; consists of the two Ravi tahsils of Gugera
Rsn43R?s63 and Montgomery, and the two Sutlej tahsils
of Dipalpur and Pakpattan. The trans-Ravi
area of the Montgomery district was transferred to
Lyallpur in April, 1913. It is included in the figures for
area and population given in the margin.
The backbone of the district is a high and dry tract
known as the Ganji or Bald Bar. The advent of the
Lower Bari Doab Canal will entirely change the character
of this desert. Its south-eastern boundary is a high
bank marking the course of the old bed of the Bias.
Below this is the wide Sutlej valley. The part be-
yond the influence of river floods depends largely on
the Khanwah and Sohag Para inundation Canals. The
Ravi valley to the north-west of the Bar is naturally
fertile and has good well irrigation. But it has suffered
much by the failure of the Ravi floods.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
263
The peasantry belongs largely to various tribes de-
scribed vaguely as Jats. The most important are Kathias,
Fig. no.
Watt us, and Kharrals. The last gave trouble in 1857
and were severely punished. The Dipalpur Kambohs are
much more hard-working than these semi-pastoral Jats.
There is already a small canal colony on the Sohag Para
Canals and arrangements for the colonization of the
Ganji Bar are now in progress.
The Lyallpur district occupies most of the Sandal Bar,
which a quarter of a century ago was a
desert producing scrub jungle and, if rains
were favourable, excellent grass. It was the
home of a few nomad graziers. The area of
the district, which was formed in 1904 and
added to from time to time, has* been taken
out of the Crown Waste of the Jhang and Montgomery
districts on its colonization after the opening of the Lower
1 Ch. = Christian.
Area, 3156 sq. m.
Cultd area,
2224 sq. m.
Pop. 857,711;
61 p.c. M.
18 „ H.
17 .. s.
4 „ Ch.i
Land Rev.
Rs. 37.55.139
= £237.°°9-
264
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch.
Chenab Canal. Some old villages near the present borders
of these two districts have been included. The coloniza-
tion of the Sandal Bar has been noticed on pages 139-140.
Fig. in.
The figures for area and population given in the margin
are for the district as it was before the addition of the
trans- Ravi area of Montgomery.
Lyallpur is divided into the four tahsils of Lyallpur,
Jaranwala, Samundri, and Toba Tek Singh. It consists
almost entirely of a flat plain of fertile loam with fringes
of poor land on the eastern, western, and southern edges.
The cultivated area is practically all canal irrigated. The
rainfall of 10 inches does not encourage dry cultivation.
The chief erops are wheat, the oil seed called ioria,
cotton, and gram. The area of the first much exceeds
that of the other three put together. There is an
enormous export of wheat and oil seeds to Karachi.
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
265
Jhang now consists of a wedge of country lying between
Lyallpur on the east and Shahpur, Mianwali,
and Muzaffargarh on the west. It contains
the valleys of the Chenab and Jhelam rivers,
which unite to the south-west of the district
headquarters and flow as a single stream
to the southern boundary. The valley of the Jhelam
Area, 3363 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1214 sq. m.
Pop. 515,526;
82 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 11,67,965
= £77-864.
Fig. 112.
is pretty and fertile, that of the Chenab exactly the
reverse. In the west of the district part of the Thai is
included in the boundary. The high land between the
river valleys is much of it poor. Irrigation from the
Lower Jhelam Canal is now available. There is a fringe
of high land on the east of the Chenab valley, partly
commanded by the Lower Chenab Canal. Jhang is divided
into the three large tahsils of Jhang, Chiniot, and Shorkot.
266
PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
[CH.
The rainfall is about ten inches and the summer long and
very hot. The chief crops are wheat, jowdr, and chart.
The Sials are few in number, but are the tribe that stands
highest in rank as representing the former rulers.
Lyallpur
Ravi
Hiver
oBahawalpur
Scale
10 . o
1 1 i 1 1 1
20
I
_j Miles
Multan
Area, 6107 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1756 sq. m.
Pop. 814,871;
82 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 13,74,472
= £91,631-
A part
The other
and Mailsi.
fall of six
Fig. 113.
occupies the south of the Bari Doab. The
Ravi flows from east to west across the north
of the district and falls into the Chenab
within its boundary. The Sutlej meets the
combined stream of the Jhelam, Chenab, and
Ravi at the south-west corner of the district,
of the Kabirwala tahsil lies beyond the Ravi,
four tahsils are Multan, Shujabad, Lodhran,
In a very hot district with an average rain-
inches cultivation must depend on irrigation
xxv] PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI 267
or river floods. The present sources of irrigation are
inundation canals from the Chenab and Sutlej supple-
mented by well irrigation, and the Sidhnai Canal from
the Ravi. The district consists of the river valleys,
older alluvial tracts slightly higher than these valleys,
but which can be reached by inundation canals1, and the
high central Bar, which is a continuation of the Ganji
Bar in Montgomery. Part of this will be served by the
new Lower Bari Doab Canal. The population consists
mainly of miscellaneous tribes grouped together under
the name of Jats, the ethnological significance of which
in the Western Pan jab is very slight. They are Muham-
madans. The district is well served by railways.
Muzaffargarh is with the exception of Kangra the
Area, 6052 sq. m. °iggest Panjab district. It forms a large
i^sq'^i. triangle with its apex in the south at the
87 p'.c5.6m.461 ; junction of the Indus and Panjnad. On
rs" 873^491 the west the Indus forms the boundary
for 180 miles. On the east Muzaffargarh has
a river boundary with Bahawalpur and Multan, but,
where it marches with Jhang, is separated from it by the
area which that district possesses in the Sind Sagar Doab.
There are four tahsils, Leia, Sinanwan, Muzaffargarh, and
Alipur, the first being equal in area to a moderately sized
district. The greater part of Leia and Sinanwan is
occupied by the Thai. The southern tongue of the
Thai extends into the Muzaffargarh tahsil. The rest
of that district is a heavily inundated or irrigated tract,
the part above flood level being easily reached by inunda-
tion canals. Dry cultivation is impossible with a yearly
rainfall of about six inches. The chief crop is wheat. In
the south of the district the people live in frail grass huts,
1 There is a project for improving the water-supply of inundation
canals in the west of the district by building a weir across the Chenab
below its junction with the Jhelam.
268 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch. xxv
and when the floods are out transfer themselves and
their scanty belongings to wooden platforms.
Mianwali
Fig. 114.
Dera Ghazi Khan district.— When the N.W. Frontier
Province was separated from the Panjab, the
older province retained all the trans-Indus
country in which Biluches were the pre-
dominant tribe. The Panjab therefore kept
Dera Ghazi Khan. It has a river frontage
Area, 5325 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1723 sq. m.
Pop. 499,860;
88 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 542,473
= £36.165-
D.I. Khan
Khan
Fig- ii5-
270 PANJAB DISTRICTS AND DELHI [ch. xxv
on the Indus about 230 miles in length and on the
west is bounded by the Suliman Range, part of which
is included within the district. The Deputy Com-
missioner of Dera Ghazi Khan and the Commissioner of
Multan spend part of the hot weather at Fort Munro.
The wide Indus valley is known as the Sindh. The
tract between it and the Hills is the Pachadh. It is
seamed by hill torrents, three of which, the Vehoa, the
Sangarh, and the Kaha, have a thread of water even in
the cold season. The heat in summer is extreme, and
the luh, a moving current of hot air, claims its human
victims from time to time. The cultivation in the Sindh
depends on the river floods and inundation canals, helped
by wells. In the Pachadh dams are built to divert the
water of the torrents into embanked fields. The cultivated
area is recorded as 1723 square miles, but this is enormously
in excess of the cropped areas, for a very large part of
the embanked area is often unsown. The encroachments
of the Indus have enforced the transfer of the district
headquarters from Dera Ghazi Khan to a new town at
Choratta. Biluches are the dominant tribe both in
numbers and political importance. They with few ex-
ceptions belong to one or other of the eight organized clans
or tumans, Kasranis, Sori Lunds, Khosas, Lagharis, Tibbi
Lunds, Gurchanis, Drishaks, and Mazaris. The most
important clans are Mazaris, Lagharis, and Gurchanis.
Care has been taken to uphold the authority of the
chiefs. The Deputy Commissioner is political officer for
such of the independent Biluch tribes across the admin-
istrative frontier as are not included in the Biluchistan
Agency. Regular troops have all been removed from the
district. The peace of the borderland is maintained by
a tribal militia under the command of a British officer.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES
i. The Phulkian States
Phulkian States. — The three Phulkian States of
Patiala, Jind, and Nabha form a political
pop. '1,928,724. ' agency under the Panjab Government. They
rs. ii8,oo,ooo occupy, with Bahawalpur and Hissar, the
bulk of that great wedge of light loam and
sand which Rajputana, physically considered, pushes
northwards almost to the Sutlej. In the Phulkian States
this consists of two tracts, the Powadh and the Jangal
Des. The former, which occupies the north and north-
east of their territory, possesses a light fertile loam soil
and a very moderate natural water level, so that well
irrigation is easy. The Jangal Des is a great tract of
sandy loam and sand in the south-west. Water lies too
deep for the profitable working of wells, but the harvests
are far less insecure than one would suppose looking to
the scantiness of the rainfall. The soil is wonderfully cool
and drought-resisting. The dry cultivation consists of
millets in the Autumn, and of gram and mixed crops
of wheat or barley and gram in the Spring, harvest.
The three states have rather more than a one-third
share in the Sirhind Canal, their shares inter se being
Patiala 83-6, Nabha 8-8, and Jind 7-6. Portions of the
Powadh and Jangal Des are irrigated. In the case of
the Powadh there has been in some places over irrigation
Fig. 1 1 6. Maharaja of Patiala.
ch. xxvi] THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES 273
considering how near the surface the water table is.
The Nirwana tahsil in Patiala and the part of Jind
which lies between Karnal and Rohtak is a bit of the
Bangar tract of the south-eastern Panjab, with a strong
loam soil and a naturally deep water level. The former
receives irrigation from the Sirsa, and the latter from the
Hansi, branch of the Western Jamna Canal. The out-
lying tracts to the south of Rohtak and Gurgaon, acquired
after the Mutiny, are part of the dry sandy Rajputana
desert, in which the Khar if is the chief harvest, and the
millets and gram the principal crops. In addition
Patiala has an area of 294 square miles of territory
immediately below and in the Simla Hills. The territory
of the Phulkian States is scattered and intermixed, and
they have islands in British districts and vice versa, a
natural result of their historic origin and development.
Phul was the sixth in descent from Baryam, a Sidhu
Jat, to whom Babar gave the Chaudhrdyat of the wild
territory to the south-west of Delhi, making him in
effect a Lord of the Marches.
Tree showing relationship of the three Houses.
Phul
, 1
Tiioka Rama
r ->- 1 f I
Gurditta Sukhchen Raja Ala Singh
of Patiala
Suratya Raja Gajpat Singh
I of Jind
Raja Hamir Singh
of Nabha
The century and more which elapsed between the
grant and Phul's death in 1652 were filled with continual
fighting with the Bhattis. Phul's second son Rama
obtained from the Governor of Sirhind the Chaudhrdyat
of the Jangal Des. When Ahmad Shah defeated the
Sikhs near Barnala in 1762, Rama's son, Ala Singh, was
d. p. 18
274 THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES [ch.
one of his prisoners. He was a chief of such importance
that his conqueror gave him the title of Raja and the
right to coin money. But Ala Singh found it prudent
to join next year in the capture of Sirhind. From
the division of territory which followed the separate
existence of the Phulkian States begins. The manner in
which they came in 1809 under British protection has
already been related. The Raja of Patiala was our
ally in the Gurkha War in 18 14, and received the
Pinjaur tahsil. The active loyalty displayed in 1857 was
suitably rewarded by accessions of territory. The right
of adoption was conferred, and special arrangements
made to prevent lapse, if nevertheless the line in any
state failed.
Patiala occupies five-sevenths of the Phulkian inherit-
ance. The predominant agricultural tribe is
Area, 5412 sq. m. r
cuitdarea, the T^ts, over three-fourths of whom are
4515 sq. m. -J
Pop. 1,407,659; Sikhs. The cultivated area is four-fifths of
40 p.c. H.
■£ » s. the total area. Over one-fourth of the former
22 ,, M.
rs.V82,oo,ooo is irrigated, 27 p.c. from wells, and the rest
=£546,666. from the two canals. In an area extending
with breaks from Simla to the Rajputana desert the
variations of agriculture are of course extreme. The
state is excellently served by railways.
Nizamats. — There are five nizamats or districts,
Pinjaur, Amargarh, Karmgarh, Anahadgarh, and Mohin-
dargarh. Their united area is equivalent to that of two
ordinary British districts. The Pinjaur nizdmat with
headquarters at Rajpura covers only 825 square miles.
Of its four tahsils Pinjaur contains the submontane and
hill tract, part of the latter being quite close to Simla.
The other three tahsils Rajpura, Bannur, and Ghanaur
are in the Powadh. The Amargarh nizdmat with an
area of 855 square miles comprises the three tahsils of
Fatehgarh, Sahibgarh, and Amargarh. The first two
xxvi] THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES 275
are rich and fertile well tracts. Amargarh is in the Jangal
Des to the south-west of Sahibgarh. It receives irrigation
from the Kotla branch of the Sirhind Canal. The Karm-
garh nizdmat with an area of 1835 square miles contains
the four tahsils of Patiala, Bhawanigarh, Sunam, and
Nirwana. The headquarters are at Bhawanigarh. The
first three are partly in the Powadh, and partly in the
Jangal Des. Nirwana is in the Bangar. There is much
irrigation from the Sirhind and Western Jamna Canals.
The Anahadgarh nizdmat lies wholly in the Jangal Des.
It has an area of 1836 square miles, and is divided into
three tahsils, Anahadgarh, Bhikhi, and Govindgarh. The
headquarters are at Barnala or Anahadgarh. The Mohin-
darpur nizdmat lies far away to the south on the borders
of Jaipur and Alwar (see map on page 226). Its area is
only 576 miles and it has two tahsils, Mohindargarh or
Kanaud and Narnaul. Kanaud is the headquarters.
The history down to 1763 has already been related.
Raja Ala Singh died in 1765 and was succeeded by his
grandson Amar Singh (1765-1781), who was occupied in
continual warfare with his brother and his neighbours, as
became a Sikh chieftain of those days. His son, Sahib
Singh (1781-1813), came under British protection in
1809. Karm Singh (1813-1845), his successor, was our
ally in the Gurkha War. Maharaja Narindar Singh,
K. C.S.I. (1845-1862), was a wise and brave man, who
gave manful and most important help in 1857. His
son, Maharaja Mohindar Singh (1 862-1 876), succeeded at
the age of ten and died 14 years later. His eldest son,
Maharaja Rajindar Singh (1 876-1 900), was only four
when he succeeded and died at the age of 28. Another
long minority, that of the present Maharaja Bhupindar
Singh, only came to an end a few years ago. In the last
fifty years Patiala has in consequence of three minorities
been governed, and as a rule successfully governed, for
18—2
276 THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES [ch.
long periods by Councils of Regency. The State in 1879
sent a contingent of 1100 men to the Afghan War. It
maintains an Imperial Service Force consisting of two
fine regiments of infantry and one of cavalry. Maharaja
Rajindar Singh went with one of these regiments to the
Tirah Expedition.
Jind. — A third of the population .of Jind consists
of Hindu and Sikh Tats. There are two
Area, 1259 sq.m. -J
cuitdarea, nizdmats , Sangrur and Jind, the latter divided
1 172 sq. m. » O «J
78p'.c24h 8anA j.» into tne tahsils of Jind and Dadri (map on
's ", s!" Page 226). The Sangrur villages are inter-
^19,00,000 spersed among those of the other Phulkian
=£126,666. states, and form a part of the Jangal Des.
Jind is in the Bangar, and Dadri, separated from
Jind by the Rohtak district, is partly in Hariana and
partly in the sandy Rajputana desert. The rainfall
varies from 17 inches at Sangrur to ten inches at Dadri.
Sangrur is irrigated by the Sirhind, and Jind by the
Western Jamna, Canal. Dadri is a dry sandy tract,
in which the Autumn millets are the chief crop. The
revenue in 1911-12 was 19 lakhs (£126,700). For
imperial service Jind keeps up a fine battalion of
infantry 600 strong. The real founder of the state was
Gajpat Singh, who was a chief of great vigour. He
conquered Jind and in 1774 deprived his relative, the chief
of Nabha, of Sangrur. He died in 1789. His successor,
Raja Bhag Singh, was a good ally of the British Govern-
ment. He died after a long and successful career in
1819. His son, Fateh Singh, only survived him by three
years. Sangat Singh succeeded to troublous times and
died childless in 1834. His second cousin, Raja Sarup
Singh, was only allowed to inherit the territory acquired
by Gajpat Singh, from whom he derived his claim. But
the gallant and valuable services rendered by Raja Sarup
1 J. = Jain.
xxvi] THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES
277
Fig. 117. Maharaja of Jind.
Full powers were given
Singh in 1857 enabled him to enlarge his State by the grant
of the Dadri territory and of
thirteen villages near Sangrur.
He died in 1864. His son
Raghubir Singh (1864-1887)
was a vigorous and successful
ruler. He gave loyal help in
the Kuka outbreak and in the
Second Afghan War. His grand-
son, the present Maharaj a Ranbir
Singh, K.C.S.I., was only eight
when he succeeded, and Jind
was managed by a Council of
Regency for a number of years,
to the chief in 1899.
Nabha consists of twelve patches of territory in the
north scattered among the possessions of
Patiala, Jind, and Faridkot, and two other
patches in the extreme south on the border
of Gurgaon. The northern section of the
state is divided into the eastern nizdmat of
Amloh in the Powadh and the western
nizdmat of Phul in the Jangal Des. Both now receive
irrigation from the Sirhind Canal. The Bawal nizdmat is
part of the arid Rajputana desert. Jats, who are mostly
Sikhs, constitute 30 p.c. of the population.
The State is well served by railways, Nabha itself
being on the Rajpura-Bhatinda line. The Maharaja
maintains a battalion of infantry for imperial service.
Hamir Singh, one of the chiefs who joined in the capture
of Sirhind, may be considered the first Raja. He died in
1783 and was succeeded by his young son, Jaswant
Singh. When he grew to manhood Jaswant Singh
proved a very capable chief and succeeded in aggrandising
his State, which he ruled for 57 years. His son, Deoindar
Area, 928 sq. m.
Cultd area,
806 sq. m.
Pop. 248,887;
51 p.c. H. and J.
31 .. s-
18 ,, M.
Rev.
Rs. 17,00,000
= £"3.300.
278 THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES [ch.
Singh (1840-47), was deposed, as he was considered to have
failed to support the British Government when the Khalsa
army crossed the Sutlej in 1845. A fourth of the Nabha
territory was confiscated. Bharpur Singh, who became
chief in 1857, did excellent service at that critical time, and
the Bawal nizdmat was his reward. He was succeeded by
his brother, Bhagwan Singh, in 1863. With Bhagwan
Singh the line died out in 1871,
but under the provisions of the
sanad granted after the Mutiny
a successor was selected from
among the Badrukhan chiefs in
the person of the late Maharaja
Sir Hira Singh. No choice could
have been more happy. Hira
Singh for 40 years ruled his
State on old fashioned lines
with much success. Those who
Fig' 'mVa Si£ghr4JaSir had the Privilege of his friend-
ship will not soon forget the
alert figure wasted latterly by disease, the gallant bearing,
or the obstinate will of a Sikh chieftain of a type now
departed. His son, Maharaja Ripudaman Singh, suc-
ceeded in 191 1.
2. Other Sikh States
Kapurthala. — -The main part consists of a strip of
territory mostly in the valley of the Bias,
Area, 630 sq. tn. J J J
cuitdarea, an(j interposed between that river and Tal-
424 sq. m. r -J
Pop. 268,163. andhar. This is divided into the four tahsils
Kev.
^'dtSssT of Bholatn' Dhilwan, Kapurthala, and Sul-
Rsfi3,oo,ooo tanpur. There is a small island of territory
rerived6fr6om the in Hoshyarpur, and a much larger one, the
oudh estates. Phagwara tahsil, projecting southwards from
xxvi] THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES
279
the border of that district into Jalandhar. Two-thirds of
the area is cultivated and the proportion of high-class
crops is large. The chief agricultural tribes are the
Muhammadan Arains and the Tats, most of whom are
Sikhs.
The real founder of the Kapurthala house was Sardar
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, who in 1763, when Sirhind fell,
was the leading Sikh chief in the Panjab. He captured
Kapurthala in 1771 and made it his headquarters, and
died in 1783. A distant relative, Bagh Singh, succeeded.
His successor, Fateh Singh, was a sworn brother of Ranjit
Singh, with whom he exchanged turbans. But an alliance
between the weak and the strong is not free from fears,
and in 1826 Fateh Singh, who had large possessions south
of the Sutlej, fled thither and asked the protection of the
British Government. He returned however to Kapur-
thala in 1827, and the Maharaja never pushed matters
with Fateh Singh to extremities. The latter died in
1836. His successor, Nihal Singh, was a timid man,
and his failure to support the British in 1845 led to the
loss of his Cis-Sutlej estates.
In 1849 he took the English
side and was given the title
of Raja. Randhir Singh
succeeded in 1852. His
conspicuous services in the
Mutiny were rewarded with
the grant of estates in Oudh.
The present Maharaja, Sir
Jagatjit Singh Bahadur,
G.C.S.I., is a grandson of
Randhir Singh. He was a
young child when he suc-
ceeded in 1877. The State maintains a battalion
infantry for imperial service.
Fig. 119. Maharaja Sir Jagatjit
Singh Bahadur, G. C.S.I.
Of
2So
THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES
[CH.
Area, 642 sq. m.
Pop. 130,925.
Rev.
Rs. 11,50,000
= £76,666.
is flat.
Faridkot is a small wedge of territory which almost
divid s the Ferozepore district in two. The
population is composed of Sikhs 42 \, Hindus
and Jains 29, and Musalmans 28| p.c. Sikh
Jats are the strongest tribe. The country
In the west it is very sandy, but in the east
the soil is firmer and is
irrigated in part by the Sir-
hind Canal. The Chief, like
the Phulkians, is a Sidhu
Barar Jat, and, though not
a descendant of Phul, unites
his line with the Phulkians
further back. The present
Raja, Brijindar Singh, is 17
years of age, and the State
is managed by a Council of
Regency.
Kalsia consists of a number of patches of territory in
Ambala and an enclave in Ferozepore known
as Chirak. The founder of the State was
one of the Jats from the Panjab, who swept
over Ambala after the capture of Sirhind
in 1763, ar.d carved out petty principalities, of which
Kalsia is the only survivor (page 180). The capital is
Chachrauli, eight or nine miles north-west of Jagadhri.
The present Chief, Sardar Ravi Sher Singh, is a minor.
3. The Muhammadan States
Bahawalpur is by far the largest of the Panjab States.
But the greater part of it is at present
Arcs.,
15,017 sq.m. desert, and the population, except in the
Cultd area, r r r
Po^loT'i- river tract, is very sparse. Bahawalpur
84 p.c m. stretches from Ferozepore on the north to
Rs>^;°^°,00 the Sindh border. It has a river frontage
— &233i333t
Fig. 120. Raja Brijindar Singh.
Area, 168 sq. m
Pop. 55,915-
Rev.
Rs. 221,000
= £i4.733-
xxvi] THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES
281
exceeding 300 miles on the Sutlej, Panjnad, and
Indus. The cultivated area in 1903-4 was 145 1
square miles, and of this 83 p.c. was irrigated and
10 p.c. flooded. The rainfall is only five inches and
the climate is very hot. South and east of the rivers
is a tract of low land known as the "Sindh," which
'.*■.
,,.'
'■'■. ■■■■' '■ ■'vf>
Fig. 121. Nawab Sadik Muhammad Khan.
widens out to the south. It is partly flooded and
partly irrigated by inundation canals with the help of
wells. Palm groves are a conspicuous feature in the
Sindh. Behind it is a great stretch of strong loam or
"pat," narrow in the south, but widening out in the north.
It is bounded on the south-east by a wide depression
282 THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES [ch.
known as the Hakra, probably at one time the bed
of the Sutlej. At present little cultivation is possible
in the pat, but there is some hope that a canal taking out
on the right bank of the Sutlej in Ferozepore may bring
the water of that river back to it. South of the Hakra
is a huge tract of sand and sand dunes, known as the
Rohi or Cholistan, which is part of the Rajputana desert.
There are three nizdmats, Minchinabad in the north,
Bahawalpur in the middle, and Khanpur in the south.
The capital, Bahawalpur, is close to the bridge at Adam-
wahan by which the N.W. Railway crosses the Sutlej.
The ruling family belongs to the Abbasi Daudpotra clan,
and came originally from Sindh. Sadik Muhammad
Khan, who received the title of Nawab from Nadir
Shah, when he invaded the Derajat in 1739, may be
considered the real founder of the State. The Nawab
Muhummad Bahawal Khan III, threatened with invasion
by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, made a treaty with the
British Government in 1833. He was our faithful ally
in the first Afghan War, and gave valuable help against
Diwan Mulraj in 1848. The next three reigns extending
from 1852 to 1866 were brief and troubled. Nawab
Sadik Muhummad Khan IV, who succeeded in 1866,
was a young child, and for the next thirteen years the
State was managed by Captain Minchin and Captain
L. H. Grey as Superintendents. The young Nawab was
installed in 1879, and henceforth ruled with the help
of a Council. In the Afghan War of 1879-1880 Bahawal-
pur did very useful service. The Nawab died in 1899.
A short minority followed during which Colonel L. H. Grey
again became Superintendent. The young Nawab, Mu-
hammad Bahawal Khan V, had but a brief reign. He
was succeeded by the present Chief, Nawab Sadik
Muhummad Khan V, a child of eight or nine years. The
State is managed by a Council aided by the advice of the
xxvi] THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES 283
political Agent. From 1903 to 1913, the Agent for the
Phulkian States was in charge, but a separate Agent has
recently been appointed for Bahawalpur and Faridkot.
An efficient camel corps is maintained for imperial service.
Malerkotla consists of a strip of territory to the south
of the Ludhiana district. The capital is
pop?Vi,i744!' " connected with Ludhiana by railway. The
Rev.
rs. 900,000 Nawab keeps up a company of Sappers and
Miners for imperial service. He is an
Afghan, and his ancestor held a position of trust under
the Moghal Empire, and became independent on its
decline. The independence of his successor was menaced
by Maharaja Ranjit Singh when Malerkotla came under
British protection in 1809.
Pataudi, Dujana, and Loharu. — -The three little Muham-
madan States of Loharu, Dujana, and Pataudi are relics
of the policy which in the opening years of the nineteenth
century sought rigorously to limit our responsibilities to
the west of the Jamna. Together they have an area of
275 square miles, a population of 59,987 persons, and a
revenue of Rs. 269,500 (£18,000). The Chief of Loharu,
Nawab Amir ud din Ahmad Khan, K.C.I.E., is a man of
distinction.
4. Hindu Hill States
Mandi is a tract of mountains and valleys drained by
the Bias. With Suket, with which for many
Area, 1200 sq. m. , J
pop. 181,110. generations it formed one kingdom, it is a
Rev. & b '
rs 500,000 wedge thrust up from the Sutlej between
= £33.333- J
Kangra and Kulu. Three-fifths of the area
is made up of forests and grazing lands. The deodar
and blue pine forests on the Kulu border are valuable.
At Guma and Drang an impure salt, fit for cattle, is
extracted from shallow cuttings. A considerable part of
the revenue is derived from the price and duty. The
284
THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES
[CH.
chiefs are Chandarbansi Rajputs. The direct line came
to an end in 1912 with the death of Bhawani Sen, but to
prevent lapse the British Government has chosen as
zajvS/(,
alacha
Pass "D
J. (l622l)
10
Scale
20
__i Miles
Native States
Fig. 122.
successor a distant relative, Jogindar Singh, who is still a
child.
xxvi] THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES
285
Suket lies between Mandi and the Sutlej. Its Raja,
Ugar Sen, like his distant relative, the Raja
of Mandi, came under British protection in
1846. His great-grandson, Raja Bhim Sen,
is the present chief.
Sirmur (Nahan) lies to the north of the Ambala
district, and occupies the greater part of the
catchment area of the Giri, a tributary of
the Jamna. It is for the most part a
mountain tract, the Chor to the north of the
Giri rising to a height of 11,982 feet. The capital, Nahan
(3207 feet), near the southern border is in the Siwalik
range. In the south-east of the State is the rich valley
known as the Kiarda Dun, reclaimed and colonized by
Area, 420 sq. m.
Pop. 54,928.
Rev.
Rs. 200,000
= £13.333-
Area, 1198 sq. m
Pop. 138,520.
Rev.
Rs. 600,000
= £40,000.
Fig. 123. The late Raja Surindar Bikram Parkash, K.C.S.I.,
of Sirmur.
286 THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES [ch.
Raja Shamsher Parkash. There are valuable deodar and
sal forests. A good road connects Nahan with Barara
on the N.W. Railway. In 1815 the British Government
having driven out the Gurkhas put Fateh Parkash on
the throne of his ancestors. His troops fought on the
English side in the first Sikh War. His successors, Raja
Sir Shamsher Parkash, G. C.S.I. (1856-98), and Raja
Sir Surindar Bikram Parkash, K. C.S.I. (1898-1911),
managed their State with conspicuous success. The
present Raja, Amar Parkash, is 25 years of age. In the
second Afghan War in 1880, Sirmur sent a contingent
to the frontier, and the Sappers and Miners, which it
keeps up for imperial service, accompanied the Tirah
Expedition of 1897.
Chamba lies to the N. of Kangra from which it is
Area, 3216 sq.m. divided by the Dhauladhar (map, p. 284).
Rev. \3?alfc' The southern and northern parts of the State
= £26,700. are 0CCUpie<5 respectively by the basins of
the Ravi and the Chandrabhaga or Chenab. Chamba is
a region of lofty mountains with some fertile valleys
in the south and west. Only about one-nineteenth
of the area is cultivated. The snowy range of the Mid-
Himalaya separates the Ravi valley from that of the
Chandrabhaga, and the great Zanskar chain with its
outliers occupies the territory beyond the Chenab, where
the rainfall is extremely small and Tibetan conditions
prevail. The State contains fine forests and excellent
sport is to be got in its mountains. There are five
wazdrats or districts, Brahmaur or Barmaur, Chamba,
Bhattoyat, Chaura, and Pangi.
The authentic history of this Surajbansi Rajput
principality goes back to the seventh century. It came
into the British sphere in 1846. During part of the reign
of Raja Sham Singh (1 873-1 904), the present Raja, Sir
Bhure Singh, K.C.S.I., CLE., administered the State as
xxvi] THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES 287
Wazir, filling a difficult position with loyalty and honour.
He is a Rajput gentleman of the best type. The Raja
Fig. 124. Raja Sir Bhure Singh, K.C.S.I., CLE.
owns the land of the State, but the people have a perma-
nent tenant right in cultivated land.
Simla Hill States. — -The Deputy Commissioner of
Simla is political officer with the title of Superintendent
of nineteen, or, including the tributaries of Bashahr,
Keonthal, and Jubbal, of 28 states with a total area of
6355 square miles, a population of 410,453, and revenues
amounting to a little over ten lakhs (£66,000). The
States vary in size from the patch of four square miles
ruled by the Thakur of Bija to the 3881 square miles
included in Bashahr. Only four other States have areas
exceeding 125 square miles, namely, Bilaspur (448),
Keonthal (359), Jubbal (320), and Hindiir or Nalagarh
(256). Excluding feudatories the revenues vary from
Rs. 900 (or a little over £1 a week) in Mangal to Rs. 190,000
288 THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES [ch.
(£12,666) in Bilaspur. The chiefs are all Rajputs, who
came under our protection at the close of the Gurkha
War.
The watershed of the Sutlej and Jamna runs through
the tract. The range which forms the watershed of the
Sutlej and the Jamna starts from the Shinka Pass on the
south border of Bashahr and passes over Hattu and
Simla. In Bashahr it divides the catchment areas of
the Rupin and Pabar rivers, tributaries of the Tons and
therefore of the Jamna, from those of the Baspa and the
Nogli, which are affluents of the Sutlej. West of Bashahr
the chief tributary of the Jamna is the Giri and of the
Sutlej the Gambhar, which rises near Kasauli. In the
east Bashahr has a large area north of the Sutlej drained
by its tributary the Spiti and smaller streams. In the
centre the Sutlej is the northern boundary of the Simla
Hill States. In the west Bilaspur extends across that
river. The east of Bashahr is entirely in the Sutlej
basin.
Bilaspur. — This is true also of Bilaspur or Kahlur (map,
Area, 448 sq. m. P- 2§4)> which has territory on both banks of
r°v. rs.^'o.ooo the river. The capital, Bilaspur, is on the left
bank only 1455 feet above sea level. The
present Raja Bije Chand, C.S.I., succeeded in 1889.
Bashahr. — The chain which forms the watershed of
Area, 388! sq.m. the Sutlej and Jamna rises from about
r°v. rs.295,'ooo 12,000 feet at Hattu in the west to nearly
= £6233. 20,000 feet on the Tibet border. Two
peaks in the chain exceed 20,000 feet. Further north
Raldang to the east of Chini is 21,250 feet high, and
in the north-east on the Tibet border there are two
giants about 1000 feet higher. Generally speaking the
Sutlej runs in a deep gorge but at Chini and Sarahan
the valley widens out. The main valley of the Pabar is
not so narrow as that of the Sutlej, while the side valleys
xxvi] THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES
289
descend in easy slopes to the river beds. The Baspa has
a course of 35 miles. In the last ten miles it falls 2000
feet and is hemmed in by steep mountains. Above this
gorge the Baspa valley is four or five miles wide and
consists of a succession of plateaux rising one above the
other from the river's banks. Bashahr is divided into
BETWEENy
17,000 TO 19,001
\_ MAIN
^WATERSHED/ „
RANGE y Gcura ■ '■ >'"
NILAM6fh
Fig. 125. Bashahr.
two parts, Bashahr proper and Kunawar. The latter
occupies the Sutlej valley in the north-east of the State.
It covers an area of about 1730 square miles and is very
sparsely peopled. In the north of Kunawar the pre-
dominant racial type is Mongoloid and the religion is
Buddhism. The capital of Bashahr, Rampur, on the
left bank of the Sutlej is at an elevation of 3300 feet.
The Gurkhas never succeeded in conquering Kunawar.
D. p.
19
290 THE PANJAB NATIVE STATES [ch. xxvi
They occupied Bashahr, but in 1815 the British Govern-
ment restored the authority of the Raja. The present
chief, Shamsher Singh, is an old man, who succeeded as
long ago as 1850. He is incapable of managing the State
and an English officer is at present in charge.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE
i. Districts
The Province. — The N. W. F. Province consists of
five British districts, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat,
Peshawar, and Hazara with a total area of 13,193 square
miles, of which rather less than one-third is cultivated.
Of the cultivated area 70 p.c. depends solely on the
rainfall. In addition the Chief Commissioner as Agent
to the Governor General controls beyond the administra-
tive boundary territory occupied by independent tribes,
which covers approximately an area of 25,500 square
miles. In 191 1 the population of British districts was
2,196,933 and that of tribal territory is estimated to
exceed 1,600,000. In the districts 93 persons in every
hundred profess the creed of Islam and over 38 p.c. are
Pathans.
Dera Ismail Khan lies to the north of Dera Ghazi
Khan and is very similar to it in its
Area, 3780 sq. m. 1 • 1 r -r
cuitdarea, physical features. It is divided into the
851 sq. m.
Pop. 256,120. three tahsils of Tank, Dera Ismail Khan,
Land Rev. '
^•306,240 and Kulachi. It has a long river frontage
on the west, and is bounded on the east by
the Suliman Range. The Kachchhi of Dera Ismail
Khan corresponds to the Sindh of Dera Ghazi Khan,
but is much narrower and is not served by inundation
canals, except in the extreme north, where the Paharpur
19 — 2
Fig. 126. Sir Harold Deane.
Fig. 127.
294 NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE [ch.
Canal has recently been dug. It depends on floods and
wells. The Daman or "Skirt" of the hills is like the
Kaisargarh
(i 1,295)
Scale
to
L_L.
O
20
l_
40
I Miles
Fig. 128. Map of Dera Ismail Khan with trans-border territory
of Largha Sheranis and Ustaranas.
Pachadh of Dera Ghazi Khan a broad expanse of strong
clayey loam or pat seamed by torrents and cultivated by
means of dams and embanked fields. The climate is
intensely hot in summer, and the average rainfall only
amounts to ten inches. Between one-fourth and one-fifth
of the area is cultivated. The Pachadh is a camel-
breeding tract.
Pathans predominate in the Daman and Jats in the
Kachchhi. The Bhittannis in the north of the district
xxvii] NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE 295
are an interesting little tribe. The hill section lies outside
our administrative border, but like the Largha Sheranis
in the south are under the political control of the Deputy
Commissioner. A good metalled road, on which there is
a tonga service, runs northwards from Dera Ismail Khan
to Bannu.
•The small Bannu district occupies a basin
surrounded by hills and drained by the
Kurram and its affluent, the Tochi. It is
cut off from the Indus by the Isakhel tahsil
of Mianwali and by a horn of the Dera
Ismail Khan district. Bannu is now connected with
Bannu. -
Area, 1641 sq. m.
Cultd area,
818 sq. m.
Pop. 250,086.
Land Rev.
Rs. 304,004
= £20,267.
Fig. 129.
Kalabagh in Mianwali by a narrow gauge railway. An
extension of this line from Laki to Tank in the Dera
Ismail Khan district has been sanctioned. There are two
tahsils, Bannu and Marwat. The cultivated area is about
one-half of the total area. About 30 p.c. of the cultivation
296 NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE [ch.
is protected by irrigation from small canals taking out of
the streams. Most of the irrigation is in the Bannu tahsil.
The greater part of Marwat is a dry sandy tract yielding in
favourable seasons large crops of gram. But the harvests
on unirrigated land are precarious, for the annual rainfall
is only about 12 inches. The irrigated land in Bannu is
heavily manured and is often double-cropped. Wheat
accounts for nearly half of the whole crops of the district.
The Marwats are a frank manly race of good physique.
The Bannuchis are hard-working, but centuries of plodding
toil on a wet soil has spoiled their bodily development,
and had its share in imparting to their character qualities
the reverse of admirable. The Deputy Commissioner
has also political charge of some 17,884 tribesmen living
across the border. There are good metalled roads to
Dera Ismail Khan and Kohat, and also one on the Tochi
route.
Kohat is a large district, but most of it is unfit for
Area, 2973 sq.m. tillage and only one-sixth is actually culti-
5i2sqarrrf.' vated. The chief crops are wheat, 44, and
LandRev.90 bdjra, 26 p.c. The district stretches east
=418,364. and west for ioo miles from Khushalgarh
on the Indus to Thai at the mouth of the Kurram valley.
The two places are now connected by a railway which
passes through the district headquarters at Kohat
close to the northern border. There are three tahsils,
Kohat, Hangu, and Teri, the last a wild tract of bare
hills and ravines occupying the south of the district and
covering more than half its area. Two small streams,
the Kohat Toi and the Teri Toi, drain into the Indus.
The rainfall is fair, but very capricious. The cold weather
lasts long and the chill winds that blow during part of
it are very trying. The chief tribes are the Bangash
Pathans of Hangu and the Khattak Pathans of Teri.
The Khan of Teri is head of the Khattaks, a manly race
xxvii] NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE 297
which sends many soldiers to our army. He enjoys the
revenue of the tahsil subject to a quit rent of Rs. 20,000.
\<
v*>
al Terr/to
1
Kurram
Valley, Thi
rf Lockharh
( Jf
^»**nar)gu
Teri .^s
4
XI
^Bahadurkhel
Peshawar
rJ
•ox
fhushalgc
otTo'i .
<?/
o
V
<<
A
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Fig. 130.
Scale
20
J? Miles
Hangu contains in Upper and Lower Miranzai the most
fertile land in the district, but the culturable area of
the tahsil is small and only one-tenth of it is under the
plough. Perennial streams run through the Miranzai
valleys, and the neighbouring hills support large flocks
of sheep and goats. Kohat contains a number of salt
quarries, the most important being at Bahadur Khel
near the Bannu border. The Thai subdivision consisting
of the Hangu tahsil is in charge of an Assistant Com-
missioner who manages our political relations with trans-
frontier tribes living west of Fort Lockhart on the Samana
Range. The Deputy Commissioner is in direct charge of
the Pass Afridis and the Jowakis and Orakzais in the
neighbourhood of Kohat. He and his Assistant between
them look after our relations with 144,000 trans-border
Pathans. The Samana Rifles, one of the useful irregular
298 NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE [ch.
corps which keep the peace of the Borderland, have their
headquarters at Hangu.
Peshawar is a large basin encircled by hills. The
Area, 2611sq.m. gorge of the Indus separates it from Attock
1398 sq. m. and Hazara. The basin is drained by the
Pop. 865,009
Land Rev ' Kabul river, whose chief affluents in Pesh-
Rs. 11,37,504
= £75,834- awar are the Swat and the Bara. The
district is divided into the five tahsils of Peshawar,
'Kohat* r^ ScaJ
e
20
Miles
40
Fig. 131.
Charsadda, Naushahra, Mardan, and Swabi. The last
two form the Mardan subdivision. Nearly 40 p.c. of
the cultivation is protected by irrigation mainly from
canals large and small. The most important are the
Lower Swat, the Kabul River, and the Bara River,
Canals. The irrigated area will soon be much increased
by the opening of the Upper Swat Canal. The cold
xxvii] NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE 299
weather climate is on the whole pleasant, though too
severe in December and January. The three months
from August to October are a very unhealthy time. The
soil except in the stony lands near the hills is a fertile
loam. The cold weather rainfall is good, and the Spring
harvest is by far the more important of the two. Wheat
is the chief crop. Half of the people are Pathans, the
rest are known generically as Hindkis. The principal
Hindki tribe is that of the Awans. Besides managing his
own people the Deputy Commissioner has to supervise
our relations with 240,000 independent tribesmen across
the border. The Assistant Commissioner at Mardan,
where the Corps of Guides is stationed, is in charge of our
dealings with the men of Buner and the Yiisafzai border.
The N.W. Railway runs past the city of Peshawar to
Jamrud, and there is a branch line from Naushahra to
Dargai at the foot of the Malakand Pass.
Hazara is a typical montane and submontane district
Area, 2858 sq. m. with a copious rainfall and a good climate.
Cultd area, . ...
673 sq.m. It has every kind of cultivation from
Pop. 603,028.
Land Rev. narrow terraced kalsi fields built laboriously
Rs. 512,897 J
= £34.193. up steep mountain slopes to very rich
lands watered by canal cuts from the Dor or Haro.
Hazara is divided into three tahsils, Haripur, Abbottabad,
and Mansehra. Between a fourth and a fifth of this
area is culturable and cultivated. In this crowded district
the words are synonymous. The above figure does not
include the 204 square miles of Feudal Tanawal. The
rainfall is copious and the crops generally speaking
secure. The principal are maize 42 and wheat 25 p.c.
Hazara was part of the territory made over to Raja
Gulab Singh in 1846, but he handed it back in ex-
change for some districts near Jammu. The maintenance
of British authority in Hazara in face of great odds
by the Deputy Commissioner, Captain James Abbott,
300 NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE [ch
during the Second Sikh War is a bright page in Panjab
history, honourable alike to himself and his faithful local
Fig. 132.
allies. The population is as mixed as the soils. Pathans
are numerous, but they are split up into small tribes.
The Swatis of Mansehra are the most important section.
After Pathans Gujars and Awans are the chief tribes.
The Gakkhars, though few in number, hold much land and
a dominant position in the Khanpur tract on the Rawal-
pindi border. The Deputy Commissioner is also respon-
sible for our relations with 98,000 trans-border tribesmen.
The district is a wedge interposed between Kashmir on
the east and Peshawar and the tribal territory north of
Peshawar on the west. The Indus becomes the border
xxvii] NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE 301
about eight miles to the north of Amb, and the district
consists mainly of the areas drained by its tributaries the
Unhar, Siran, Dor, and Haro. On the eastern side the
Jhelam is the boundary with Kashmir from Kohala to a
point below Domel, where the Kunhar meets it. Thence
the Kunhar is the boundary to near Garhi Habibullah.
To the south of Garhi the watershed of the Kunhar and
Jhelam is close to these rivers and the country is very
rough and poor. West of Garhi it is represented by the
chain which separates the Kunhar and Siran Valleys and
ends on the frontier at Musa ka Musalla (13,378 feet).
This chain includes one peak over 17,000 feet, Mali ka
Parvat, which is the highest in the district. The Kunhar
rises at the top of the Kagan Glen, where it has a course
of about 100 miles to Balakot. Here the glen ends, for
the fall between Balakot and Garhi Habibullah is com-
paratively small. There is a good mule road from
Garhi Habibullah to the Babusar Pass at the top of the
Kagan Glen, and beyond it to Chilas. There are rest-
houses, some very small, at each stage from Balakot to
Chilas. The Kagan is a beautiful mountain glen. At
places the narrow road looks sheer down on the river
hundreds of feet below, rushing through a narrow gorge
with the logs from the deodar forests tossing on the surface,
and the sensation, it must be confessed, is not wholly
pleasant. But again it passes close to some quiet pretty
stretch of this same Kunhar. There are side glens, one
of which opposite Naran contains the beautiful Safarmulk
Lake. Near the top of the main glen the Lulusar Lake
at a height of 11,167 feet and with an average depth of
150 feet is passed on the left. In the lower part of the
glen much maize is grown. As one ascends almost the last
crop to be seen is a coarse barley sown in June and reaped
in August. Where the trees and the crops end the rich
grass pastures begin. Kagan covers between one-third
302 NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE [ch.
and one-fourth of the whole district. The Siran flows
through the beautiful Bhogarmang Glen, at the foot of
which it receives from the west the drainage of the Konsh
Glen. Forcing its way through the rough Tanawal hills,
it leaves Feudal Tanawal and Badhnak on its right, and
finally after its junction with the Dor flows round the
north of the Gandgarh Range and joins the Indus below
Torbela. The bare Gandgarh Hills run south from
Torbela parallel with the Indus. The Dor rises in the
hills to the south of Abbottabad and drains the Haripur
plain. A range of rough hills divides the Dor valley
from that of the Haro, which again is separated from
Rawalpindi by the Khanpur Range. To the west of the
Siran the Unhar flows through Agror and Feudal Tanawal,
and joins the Indus a little above Amb. Irrigation
cuts are taken from all these streams, and the irrigated
cultivation is often of a very high character. The best
cultivation of the district is in the Haripur plain and the
much smaller Orash and Pakhli plains and in the Haro
valley. There is much unirrigated cultivation in the
first, and it is generally secure except in the dry tract in
the south-west traversed by the new railway from Sarai
Kala. The little Orash plain below Abbottabad is
famous for its maize and the Pakhli plain for its rice.
Feudal Tanawal is a very rough hilly country between
the Siran on the east and the Black Mountain and the
river Indus on the west. It is the appanage of the Khans
of Amb and Phulra.
North of Feudal Tanawal is Agror. In 1891 the
rights of the last Khan were declared forfeit for abetment
of raids by trans-bordermen.
There are fine forests in Hazara, but unfortunately
the deodar is confined to the Kagan Glen and the Upper
Siran. Nathiagali, the summer headquarters of the
Chief Commissioner, is in the Dungagali Range. The
xxvn] NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE 303
Serai Kala-Srinagar railway will run through Hazara.
There is a good mule road from Murree to Abbottabad
through the Galis.
2. Tribal Territory
Feudal Tanawal mentioned above occupies the south-
ern corner of the tract of independent tribal territory
lying between the Hazara border and the Indus. North
of Tanawal on the left bank of the river a long narrow
chain known as the Black Mountain rises in its highest
Fig *33- Sir George Roos Keppel.
peaks to a height of nearly 10,000 feet. The western
slopes are occupied by Hasanzais, Akazais, and Chagarzais,
304 NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE [ch.
who are Pathans belonging to the great Yusafzai clan,
and these three sections also own lands on the right bank
Peshawar
Scale
Fig- 134-
of the Indus. They have been very troublesome neigh-
bours to the British Government. The eastern slopes of
the Black Mountain are occupied by Saiyyids and Swatis,
and the latter also hold the glens lying further north, the
chief of which is Allai.
The mountainous tract on the Peshawar border
lying to the west of Tanawal and the territory of the Black
Mountain tribes formed part of the ancient Udyana, and
its archaeological remains are of much interest. It is
xxvn] NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE 305
drained by the Barandu, a tributary of the Indus. Its
people are mainly Yusafzai Pathans, the principal section
being the Bunerwals. These last bear a good character
for honesty and courage, but are slaves to the teachings
of their mullas. The Yusafzais have been bad neighbours.
The origin of the trouble is of old standing, dating back
to the welcome given by the tribesmen in 1824 to a band
of Hindustani fanatics, whose leader was Saiyyid Ahmad
Shah of Bareilly. Their headquarters, first at Sitana
and afterwards at Malka, became Caves of Adullam for
political refugees and escaped criminals, and their favourite
pastime was the kidnapping of Hindu shopkeepers. In
1863 a strong punitive expedition under Sir Neville
Chamberlain suffered heavy losses before it succeeded in
occupying the Ambela Pass. The door being forced the
Yusafzais themselves destroyed Malka as a pledge of
their submission. Our political relations with the Yiisaf-
zais are managed by the Assistant Commissioner at
Mardan.
The rest of the tribal territory between the Peshawar
district and the Hindu Kush is included in the Dir,
Swat, and Chitral political agency. It is a region of
mountains and valleys drained by the Swat, Panjkora,
and Chitral or Yarkhun rivers, all three affluents of the
Kabul river. Six tracts are included in the Agency.
(a) Swat. — A railway now runs from Naushahra in
the Peshawar district to Dargai, which lies at the foot of
the Malakand, a little beyond our administrative boundary.
An old Buddhist road crosses the pass and descends on
the far side into Swat. We have a military post at
Chakdarra on the Swat river, and a military road passing
through Dir connects Chakdarra with Kila Drosh in
Chitral. Most of the Swatis, who are Yusafzais of the
Akozai section, occupy a rich valley above 70 miles in
length watered by the Swat river above its junction with
d. p. 20
306 NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE [ch.
the Panjkora. Rice is extensively grown, and a malarious
environment has affected the physique and the character
of the people. The Swati is priest-ridden and treacherous.
Even his courage has been denied, probably unjustly.
Swati fanaticism has been a source of much trouble on
the Peshawar border. The last serious outbreak was in
1897, when a determined, but unsuccessful, attack was
made on our posts at Chakdarra and the Malakand Pass.
The Swatis are Yiisafzai Pathans of the Akozai clan, and
are divided into five sections, one of which is known as
Ranizai.
(b) Sam Ranizai. — A small tract between the Peshawar
border and the hills is occupied by the Sam Ranizais, who
were formerly servants and tenants of the Ranizais, but
are now independent.
(c) Utman Khel. — The country of the Utman Khels
begins where the Peshawar boundary turns to the south.
This tribe occupies the tract on both sides of the Swat
river to the west of Swat and Sam Ranizai. On the
south-west the Swat river divides the Utman Khels from
the Mohmands. Their country is very barren, but a
good many of them cultivate land in the Peshawar district.
The Utman Khels are quite independent of the sur-
rounding tribes and have been troublesome neighbours
to ourselves.
(d) Bajaur.— Bajaur is a very mountainous tract
lying to the north-west of the Utman Khel country and
between it and the Durand line. It includes four valleys,
through which flow the Rud river and its affluents with
the exception of that known as Jandol. The valley of
the last is now included in Dir. The Rud, also known
as the Bajaur, is a tributary of the Panjkora. The
people consist mainly of Mamunds and other sections of
the Tarkanri clan, which is related to the Yusafzais.
They own a very nominal allegiance to the Khan of
xxvn] NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE 307
Nawagai, who is recognised as the hereditary head of the
Tarkanris. They manage their affairs in quasi-republican
fashion through a council consisting of the particular
party which for the time being has got the upper hand.
(e) Dir. — Dir is the mountainous country drained by
the Panjkora and its tributaries, to the north of its
junction with the Rud river in Bajaur. It is separated
from Chitral by the Uchiri Range, which forms the
watershed of the Panjkora and Kunar rivers. The
military road to Kila Drosh crosses this chain by the
Lowari Pass at a height of 10,200 feet. The people of
Dir are mostly Yusafzais, relations of the Swatis, whom
they much resemble in character. They pay one-tenth
of their produce to their overlord, the Khan of Dir, when
he is strong enough to take it. The higher parts of the
country have a good climate and contain fine deodar
forests. The Khan derives much of his income from the
export of timber, which is floated down the Panjkora
and Swat rivers.
(/) Chitral. — The Pathan country ends at the Lowari
Pass. Beyond, right up to the main axis of the Hindu
Kush, is Chitral. It comprises the basin of the Yarkhun
or Chitral river from its distant source in the Shawar
Shur glacier to Arnawai, where it receives from the west
the waters of the Bashgul, and is thenceforth known as
the Kunar. Its western boundary is the Durand line,
which follows a lofty chain sometimes called the Kafiristan
range. Another great spur of the Hindu Kush known as
the Shandur range divides Chitral on the east from the
basin of the Yasin river and the territories included in
the Gilgit Agency (see Chapter xxviii) . Chitral is a fine
country with a few fertile valleys, good forests below
11,000 feet, and splendid, if desolate, mountains in the
higher ranges. The Chitralis are a quiet pleasure-loving
people, fond of children and of dancing, hawking, and
20 — 2
308 NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE [ch.
polo. They are no cowards and no fanatics, but have
little regard for truth or good faith. The common
language is Khowar (see page 112). The chief, known
as the Mehtar, has his headquarters at Chitral, a large
village on the river of the same name. It is dominated
at a distance by the great snow peak of Tirach Mir (see
page 22). The British garrison is stationed at Kila Drosh
on the river bank about halfway between Chitral and the
Lowari Pass1.
Mohmands and Mallagoris. — South of the Utman Khel
'■SfsAbozai
Shabkadar
ichni
shawar
^■M * * f-k-_v ^^ I'll >\ h ***"^l
Peiwar Kotal
Fig. 135-
country and north of the Khaibar are the rugged and
barren hills held by that part of the Mohmand tribe
x For recent history see page 196.
xxvii] NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE 309
which lives inside the Durand line. The clan can muster
about 20,000 fighting men and is as convenient a neigh-
bour as a nest of hornets. The southern edge of the
tract, where it abuts on the Khaibar, is held by the little
Mallagori tribe, which is independent of the Mohmands.
Their country is important strategically because a route
passes through it by which the Khaibar can be outflanked.
It is included in the charge of the Political Agent for the
Khaibar.
Afridis. — The pass and the tract lying to the south of
it including the Bazar valley and part of Tirah are the
home of the six sections of the Pass Afridis, the most
important being the Zakha Khel, whose winter home is
in the Khaibar and the Bazar valley, a barren glen
hemmed in by barren hills, the entrance to which is not
far from Ali Masjid. Its elevation is 3000 to 4000 feet.
The valleys in Tirah proper, where the Pass Afridis for the
most part spend the summer, are two or three thousand
feet higher. When the snow melts there is excellent
pasturage. The climate is pleasant in summer, but
bitterly cold in winter. The Bara river with its affluents
drains the glens of Tirah. The Aka Khel Afridis, who
have no share in the Pass allowances, own a good deal of
land in the lower Bara valley and winter in the adjoining
hills. The fighting strength of the above seven sections
may be put at 21,000. When they have been able to
unite they have shown themselves formidable enemies, for
they are a strong and manly race, and they inhabit a
very difficult country1. But the Afridi clan is torn by
dissensions. Blood feuds divide house from house, and
the sections are constantly at feud one with another.
Apart from other causes of quarrel there is the standing
division into two great factions, Gar and Samil, which
prevails among Afridis and Orakzais. Afridis enlist
1 See page 196.
3io NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE [ch.
freely in our regiments and in the Khaibar Rifles, and have
proved themselves excellent soldiers. The eighth section
of the Afridis, the Adam Khel, who hold the Kohat Pass
and the adjoining hills, have very little connection with
Fig. 136. Khaibar Rifles.
the rest of the clan. The Jowakis, against whom an
expedition had to be sent in the cold weather of 1877-78,
are a sub-section of the Adam Khel.
Orakzais, Chamkannis, and Zaimukhts. — The Orakzais,
who in numbers are even stronger than the Pass and Aka
Khel Afridis, occupy the south of Tirah, the Samana
Range on the border of Kohat, and the valley of the Khanki
river. The tribal territory extends westwards as far as
xxvii] NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE 311
the Khurmana, a tributary of the Kurram. The Orakzais
do some trade and Sikh banias and artizans are to be
found in some of their villages. The clan is honey-combed
with feuds. North-west of the Orakzais beyond the
Khurmana are the Chamkannis, and on the south is a
small tribe of vigorous mountaineers called Zaimukhts.
One of these Zaimukhts, Sarwar Khan, nicknamed Chikai,
was a notorious frontier robber, and a person of consider-
able importance on the border till his death in 1903.
The Kurram Valley. — The Kurram Valley, which is
drained by the Kurram river and its affluents, lies to
the south of the lofty Safed Koh range, and reaches
from Thai in Kohat to the Peiwar Kotal on the borders
of Afghan Khost. It has an area of nearly 1300 square
miles and in 1911 the population was estimated at 60,941
souls. Though under British administration, it does
not form a part of any British district. The people
are Pathans of various clans, the predominant element
being the Tuns, who are Shias by religion and probably
of Turkish origin. It was at their request that the
valley was annexed in 1892. The political agent has
his headquarters at Parachinar in Upper Kurram, which
is divided from Lower Kurram by a spur of the Khost
hills, through which the river has cut a passage. Such
part of the Indian penal law as is suitable has been
introduced, and civil rights are governed by the cus-
tomary law of the Turis. A complete record of rights
in land and water has been framed, and the land revenue
demand is 88,000 rupees (£5889). Upper Kurram is a
wide and fertile valley set in a frame of pine-clad hills.
It is not fully cultivated, but has great possibilities,
especially in the matter of fruit growing. The snowfall
is heavy in winter, but the summer climate is excellent.
Lower Kurram is a poor and narrow glen unpleasantly
hot and cold according to the season of the year.
312 NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE [ch.
Parachinar is connected with the railhead at Thai by a
good tonga road.
Waziristan. — The country of the Darwesh Khel and
Mahsud Wazirs extends from the Kurram valley to the
Gonial river. It is divided into the North Waziristan
(2300 square miles) and the South Waziristan (2700
square miles) Agencies. North Waziristan consists of
four valleys and some barren plateaux. The principal
valley is that of Daur (700 square miles) drained by
the Tochi. In 1894 the Dauris sought refuge from
Darwesh Khel inroads by asking for British adminis-
tration. In the eyes of the Darwesh Khel they are
a race of clodhoppers. Their sole virtue consists in
patient spade industry in the stiff rich soil of their valley,
their vices are gross, and their fanaticism is extreme.
The political agent's headquarters are at Miram Shah.
South Waziristan is the home of the troublesome Mahsuds,
who can muster 11,000 fighting men. But parts of the
country, e.g. the Wana plain, are held by the Darwesh
Khel. Much of South Waziristan consists of bare hills
and valleys and stony plains scored with torrents, which
are dry most of the year. The streams are salt. Part
of the hinterland is however a more inviting tract with
grassy uplands and hills clad with oak, pine, and deodar.
Wana, where the political agent has his headquarters,
was occupied on the invitation of the Darwesh Khel in
1894.
Sheranis. — The Sherani country stretches along the
Dera Ismail Khan border from the Gomal to the Vihoa
torrent. The Largha or lower part has been under direct
administration since 1899, the Upper part belongs to the
Biluchistan Agency.
Tribal Militias. — In the greater part of India beyond
the border there is no British administration. Respect
for our authority and the peace of the roads are upheld,
xxvii] NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE 313
and raiding on British territory is restrained, by irregular
forces raised from among the tribesmen. There are
Hunza and Nagar levies, Chitral and Dir levies, Khaibar
Rifles, Samana Rifles, and Kurram, North Waziristan,
and South Waziristan militias.
Fig. 137. North Waziristan Militia and Border Post.
CHAPTER XXVIII
KASHMIR AND JAMMU
Kashmir. — Some account has already been given of
the topography and scenery of the wide territory, covering
an area about equal to that of the Panjab less the Ambala
division, ruled by the Maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu.
The population, races, languages, and religions have been
referred to in Chapters ix and x.
Modern history. — Some mention has been made of the
early history of Kashmir (pages 165, 166, 172, 173). Even
the hard Sikh rule was a relief to a country which had
felt the tyranny of the Durani governors who succeeded
the Moghals. Under the latter small kingships had sur-
vived in the Jammu hills, but the Jammuwal Rajas met
at Ranjit Singh's hands the same fate as the Kangra
Rajas. Three cadets of the Jammu royal house, the
brothers Dhian Singh, Suchet Singh, and Gulab Singh,
were great men at his court. In 1820 he made the last
Raja of Jammu. Gulab Singh was a man fit for large
designs. In 20 years he had made himself master of
Bhadrawah, Kishtwar, Ladakh, and Baltistan, and held
the casket which enclosed the jewel of Kashmir. He
acquired the jewel itself for 75 lakhs by treaty with the
British at the close of the first Sikh war.
Excluding a large but little-known and almost un-
inhabited tract beyond the Muztagh and Karakoram
mountains, the drainage of which is northwards into
Central Asia, the country consists of the valleys of the
Fig 138. Maharaja of Kashmir.
3i6
KASHMIR AND JAMMU
[CH.
Chenab, Jhelam, and Indus, that of the last amounting
to three-fourths of the whole. There is a trifling area
to the west of Jammu, which contains the head-waters of
small streams which find their way into the Ravi.
Divisions. — The following broad divisions may be
recognised :
i, Chenab Valley (a) Plain and Kandi or Low Hills.
(6) Uplands of Kishtwar and Bha-
drawah.
2. Jhelam Valley {a) Vale of Kashmir with adjoining
glens and hills.
(b) Gorge below Baramiila and
Kishnganga Valley.
Chilas
'st,
O/-
*
t h
^ Bandipur
&
Tr
h Sopuro^
73 \
^Uon^t
i \
N\ Un ',
B> a\
Punch/ /
4/1 \h
"" /
j//
3gar X>
-.Gulmar
■*
•f-
^
<f>
,<-
^Islamabad
V
R i a s i
oVerna
<F
C/i
.<#
b ,? <&■
irpur
Bhimbar,'
'.jag
W»
*/
<^> T°v
irBt
ladrawan
o°
3^
*r%
^
°rdaspur
Fig. 139. Sketch Map of Chenab and Jhelam Valleys
(Jammu and Kashmir).
xxviii] KASHMIR AND JAMMU 317
3. Indus Valley (a) Ladakh including Zanskar and
Rupshu.
(b) Baltistan.
(c) Astor and Gilgit.
Chenab Valley. — (a) Plain and Kandi. This tract
extends from Mirpur on the Jhelam to Kathua near the
Ravi and close to the head-works of the Upper Ban Doab
Canal at Madhopur. It is coterminous with the Pan jab
districts of Jhelam, Gujrat, Sialkot, and Gurdaspur, and
comprises four of the five districts of the Jammu Province,
Mirpur, .Riasi, Jammu, and Jasrota, and a part of the
fifth, Udhampur. The plain is moist and unhealthy.
The rough country behind with a stony and thirsty red
soil covered in its natural state with garna (Carissa
spinarum), sanatan (Dodonaea viscosa), and bhekar (Ad-
hat oda vasica) does not suffer in this respect. The
chief crops of the Kandi are wheat, barley, and rape in
the spring, and maize and bdjra in the autumn, harvest.
Behind the Kandi is a higher and better tract, including
Naoshera, with wide valleys, in which maize replaces
bdjra.
(b) Uplands. The greater part of the Upper Chenab
Valley is occupied by Kishtwar and Jagir Bhadrawah.
The rainfall is heavy and there is copious irrigation from
kuhls (page 142), but elevation and rapid drainage make
the climate healthy. In the upper parts snow and cold
winds sometimes prevent the ripening of the crops. The
poppy is grown in Kishtwar and Bhadrawah. Kishtwar
is a part of the Udhampur district.
Jhelam Valley. — (a) Vale of Kashmir with adjoining
glens and mountains. This first division of the Jhelam
Valley extends from the source above Vernag to Baramula,
and embraces not only the Vale of Kashmir, over 80
miles long and from 20 to 25 miles in breadth, but the
glens which drain into it and the mountains that surround
3i8
KASHMIR AND JAMMU
[CH.
it. It therefore includes cultivation of all sorts from rich
irrigated rice fields to narrow plots terraced up mountain
slopes on which buckwheat and the beardless Tibetan
barley are grown. The administrative divisions are the
wazdrat or district of South Kashmir and the southern
Fig. 140. Takht i Suliman in Winter.
part of North Kashmir. The central valley has an eleva-
tion of 6000 feet. It was undoubtedly once a lake bed.
Shelving fan-shaped "karewas" spread out into it from
the bases of the hills. The object of the Kashmiri is to
raise as much rice as he possibly can on the alluvium of
his valley and on the rich soil deposited on the banks of
mountain streams. Manure and facilities for irrigation
exist in abundance, and full use is made of them in the
cultivation of the favourite crop. Kangni takes the
place of rice in many fields if there is any deficiency of
water. On reclaimed swamps near the Jhelam heavy
xxviii] KASHMIR AND JAMMU 319
crops of maize are raised. The tillage for wheat and barley
is as careless as that for rice is careful. The cultivation
of saffron (Crocus sativus) on karewas is famous, but the
area is now limited, as the starving people ate up the
bulbs in the great famine of 1877 and recovery is slow.
Saffron is used as a pigment for the sectarian marks on the
forehead of the orthodox Hindu and also as a condiment.
The little floating vegetable gardens on the Dal lake are a
very curious feature. The " demb" lands on the borders of
the same lake are a rich field for the market gardener's art.
He fences a bit of land with willows, and deposits on it
weeds and mud from the lake bed. He is of the boatman
or Hanz caste, whose reputation is by no means high, and'
can himself convey by water his vegetables and fruits to
the Srinagar market. The production of fruit in Kashmir
is very large, and the extension of the railway to Srinagar
should lead to much improvement in the quality and in
the extent of the trade. It may also improve the prospects
of sericulture.
(b) Jhelam Gorge and Valley of Kishnganga. The
Jhelam gorge below Baramiila is narrow and the culti-
vation is usually terraced. The Kishnganga' joins the
Jhelam near Muzaffarabad. The Muzaffarabad district
includes the Jhelam gorge and the lower part of the
valley of the Kishnganga. The upper part is in the
Uttarmachhipura tahsil of the district of North Kashmir.
Indus Valley. — (a) Laddkh including Zdnskar and
Rupshu. Some description of Ladakh and its scenery has
already been given in Chapter 11. It may be divided
into Rupshu, Zanskar, and Ladakh proper with Leh as its
centre. Rupshu in the south-east is a country of great
brackish lakes in no part less than 13,500 feet above sea
level. At such a height cultivation must be very difficult,
but a little beardless Tibetan barley is raised. The scanty
population consists mainly of nomad shepherds. In
320 KASHMIR AND JAMMU [ch.
Ladakh the people are divided into shepherds or champas,
who roam over the Alpine pastures, and Ladakhis, who
Fig. 141. Ladakh Hills.
till laboriously every available patch of culturable land
in the river valleys. Though both are Buddhists they
rarely intermarry. Zanskar to the N.W. of Rupshu is
drained by the river of the same name, which flows north-
wards to join the Indus below Leh. It forms part of
the Kargil tahsil. Zanskar is a bleak inaccessible region
where the people and cattle remain indoors for six months
of the year. Its breed of ponies is famous. In Ladakh
proper cultivation ranges from 9000 to 15,000 feet. The
sandy soil must be manured and irrigated, and is often
refreshed by top-dressings of fresh earth from the hill
sides. The crops are wheat and barley, rape, lucerne,
peas and beans, in spring, and buckwheat, millets, and
turnips, in autumn. There is a great lack of wood for
building and for fuel, and the deficiency in the latter case
has to be supplied by cow-dung cakes. Notwithstanding
xxviii] KASHMIR AND JAMMU 321
their hard life the people are cheerful and fairly well off,
for polyandry has prevented overcrowding.
(b) B alt i stdn. In Baltistan, which lies to the N.W.
of Ladakh, they are Muhammadans and there is much
more pressure on the soil. They are a cheery race and
very fond of polo. To support their families the men
have to work as carriers on the roads to Leh and Gilgit.
They tend the cattle in the pastures, keep the irrigation
channels and the walls of the terraced fields in repair,
and do the ploughing. The rest of the work of cultivation
is left to the women. The climate is very severe and most
of the rivers are frozen in winter. On the other hand
near the Indus on the Skardo plain (7250 feet) and in the
Rondu gorge further west, the heat is intense in July and
August. The dreary treeless stony Deosai Plains on the
road to Kashmir have an elevation of 13,000 feet. The
cultivation and crops are much the same as in Ladakh.
Excellent fruit is grown, and there is a considerable export
of apricots. Gold washing is carried on with profit.
Ladakh and Baltistan together form the Ladakh
wazdrat, divided into the three tahsils of Ladakh, Kargil,
and Skardo.
(c) Astor and Gilgit. — Where the Gilgit road from
Kashmir descends from the Burzil pass (13,500 feet) the
country of Astor is reached. It is drained by the Astor
river, which joins the Indus to the south of Bunji. The
bridge which crosses it at Ramghat is only 3800 feet above
sea level. The village of Astor itself is at a height of
7853 feet. The cultivation is of the same description as
that in Baltistan. The aspect of the country is bleak till
the Indus is crossed, and Gilgit (4890 feet) is reached.
Here there is a fertile well-watered oasis from which on
every side great mountain peaks are visible. The lands
are heavily manured. Rice, maize, millet, buckwheat,
cotton, wheat, barley, rape, and lucerne are grown. There
D. P. 21
Fig. 142. Zojila Pass (page 12).
ch. xxviii] KASHMIR AND JAMMU 323
is a second and easier road to Gilgit from India over the
Babusar pass at the top of the Kagan Glen in Hazara.
But the posts are sent by the Kashmir road. The Astoris
and Gilgitis are a simple easy-going folk, and, like the
Baltis, very fond of polo. A British Political Agent is
stationed at Gilgit. He is responsible to the Government
of* India for the administration of Hunza, Nagar, and
Yasin, and of the little republics in the neighbourhood
of Chilas). Hunza and Nagar lie to the north of Gilgit
near the junction of the Muztagh and Hindu Kush ranges,
and Yasin far to the west about the upper waters of the
Gilgit river.
In Astor and Gilgit also Gulab Singh's Dogras replaced
the Sikh troops. But across the Indus Gulab Singh was
never strong, and after 1852 that river was his boundary.
He died in 1857, having proved himself a hard and un-
scrupulous, but a capable and successful ruler. His son,
Randhir Singh, was a better man, but a worse king. A
good Hindu, tolerant, and a friend of learning, he had not
the force of character to control the corrupt official class,
and the people suffered much in consequence. He was
a loyal ally in the Mutiny. In i860 his forces recovered
Gilgit, a conquest which for years after was a fruitful
source of suffering to his Cis-Indus subjects. The present
Maharaja, Sir Pratap Singh, G.C.S.I., succeeded in 1885.
While he lived his brother, Raja Amar Singh, played a
very important part in Kashmir affairs. From 1887 to
1905 the administration was managed by a small council,
of which after 1891 the Maharaja was President and Raja
Amar Singh Vice-President. It was abolished in 1905.
There are now under the Maharaja a chief minister and
ministers in charge of the home and revenue departments.
Judicial business is controlled by the Judge of the High
Court. Death sentences must be confirmed by the
Maharaja. The highest executive officers are the governors
21 — 2
324 KASHMIR .AND JAMMU [ch. xxviii
of Jammu and Kashmir, and the Wazirs Wazdrat of
Ladakh and Gilgit. In Jammu and Kashmir each of
the eight districts is in charge of a Wazir Wazdrat. In
connection with the land revenue settlement, forests, etc.,
the services of British officers have been lent to the State.
The Government of India is represented at Srinagar by
a Resident, and a political agent at Gilgit exercises a
general supervision over the Wazir Wazdrat.
During the reign of the present Maharaja great reforms
have been effected. The construction of the Gilgit road
has done away with the blood tax, which the conveyance
of supplies to that remote post formerly involved. The
land revenue settlement has largely substituted cash for
kind payments and done away with many abuses. Official
corruption and oppression have been scotched, but would
speedily revive if vigilance were relaxed. The different
peoples ruled by the Maharaja are easily governed if
properly treated, and violent crime is rare.
Note. In the map appended to Dr Arthur Neve's
Thirty Years in Kashmir the heights of Gasherbrum and
Masherbrum (see page 21) are given respectively as 26,360
and 25,560 feet, and that of Hidden Peak, S.E. of Gasher-
brum, as 26,470 feet. These with K2 are the highest
mountains round the Baltoro Glacier. Further east is
the Siachen, "the greatest glacier in Asia," which feeds
the Nubra river (page 36). N.E. of the Siachen is the
Teram Kangri mountain, the height of which does not
probably exceed 25,000 feet. The actual height of the
Nun Kun (page 12) is 23,447 feet. Dr Neve gives that of
the Karakoram Pass as 18,110 feet, not 18,550 as stated
on page 20.
CHAPTER XXIX
CITIES
Delhi (28.38 N., 77.13 E.). — Of imperial cities the
most interesting are those which have felt the tragedies as
well as enjoyed the glories of Empire. From this point of
view Delhi, notwithstanding its small extent and modern
foundation, may be grouped with Rome, Constantinople,
and Paris. In the matter of size it is in the same class
as Edinburgh. The present Delhi or Shahjahanabad is a
creation of the middle of the seventeenth century, and
the oldest of the Delhis in the neighbourhood goes back
only to the fourth century of our era. The latter endured
for six or seven centuries. It was the capital of the
Tunwar and Chauhan Rajas, and takes its second name
of Rai Pithora's Kila' or Fort from the last Hindu King
of Delhi, the famous Prithvi Raja. The early Muham-
madan kings occupied it and adorned it with splendid
buildings. Firoz Shah Tughlak's city of Firozabad
occupied part of the present Delhi and the country
lying immediately to the south of it. The other so-
called towns Siri, Tughlakabad, and Indarpat or Purana
Kila' (Old Fort) were fortified royal residences round
which other dwelling-houses and shops sprang up.
The visitor to Delhi will be repaid if he can devote a
week to the City and the neighbourhood. It is impossible
here to give any adequate account of the objects of historic
and architectural interest. No visitor should be without
326 CITIES [ch.
Mr H. C. Fanshawe's Delhi Past and Present, s. work of
great interest. The value of the text is enhanced by good
maps and excellent illustrations. In the Civil Station,
which lies to the north of the City and east of the Ridge,
is Ludlow Castle, from the roof of which General Wilson
and his Staff watched the assault on 14th September, 1857,
when Delhi was retaken. Ludlow Castle is now the Delhi
Club. Between it and the northern rampart of the City,
a defence against the Mahrattas built by British officers
fifty years earlier, grim fighting took place on that historic
day when the little British and Indian force, till then
rather besieged than besiegers, was at last strong enough
to attack. Here are the sites of the four batteries
which breached that rampart, and here are the grave
of John Nicholson and the statue recently erected in his
honour (page 190). The Ridge to which the little army
had clung obstinately from May to September in scorching
heat and drenching rain, undismayed by repeated assaults
and the ravages of cholera, starts about half-a-mile to the
west of the Mori bastion, at the north-west corner of the
city wall, and runs north by east to Wazirabad on an old
bed of the Jamna. Ascending to the Flagstaff Tower one
looks down to-day on the Circuit House and the site of
the principal camps at the great darbdr of 191 1. Here
was the old Cantonment and its parade ground, on which
the main encampment of the British force stood in 1857.
The position was strong, being defended by the ridge on
the east and the Najafgarh Canal on the west. It is open
to the south, where are the Savzi Mandi (Vegetable
Market), now the site of factories, and the Roshanara
Gardens. It was on this side that the mutineers made
their most dangerous attacks. The road along the Ridge
from the Flagstaff Tower passes the Chauburji Mosque
and Hindu Rao's house, which was the principal target of
the City batteries and was gallantly held by Major Reid
XXIX]
CITIES
327
with his Sirmur Gurkhas, the Guides, and the 60th Rifles
Beyond Hindu Rao's house is
one of the stone pillars of
Asoka, which Firoz Shah
Tughlak transported to Delhi.
Still further south is the
Mutiny Memorial. As one
reads the tale of the losses of
the different regiments one
realizes in some measure the
horrors and the heroism of
which the Ridge was witness.
The City. — When visiting
the City from the Civil Lines
it is well to follow the road,
which passing the Kudsia
Gardens leads straight to the
Kashmir Gate, one of two
places in India (the Lucknow
Residency is the other) which
must stir with grateful pride
the heart of the most phleg-
matic of Englishmen. The
road from the Gate to the Fort and the Jama Masjid is
rich in memories of the Mutiny. It has on its left
S. James' Church, with memorial tablets within and
outside the shot-riddled globe which once surmounted
its dome. Further on are the obelisk to the telegraph
officers who stuck to their posts on the fatal nth of
May, and on a gateway of the Old Magazine a record
of the heroism of the nine devoted men, who blew it
up, losing five of their number in the explosion. Passing
under the railway bridge one comes out on the open
space in front of Shahjahan's palace fort, which was
finished about 1648 a.d. To the beautiful buildings
' In memory of the officers and
soldiers, British and native, of
the Delhi Field Force who were
killed in action or died of
wounds or disease between the
30th May and 20th September
I857-'
' This monument has been
erected by the comrades who
lament their loss and by the
Govmt: they served so well.'
Fig. 143. Delhi Mutiny
Monument.
328
CITIES
[CH. XXIX
Fig. 144. Kashmir Gate.
erected by his father Aurangzeb added the little Moti
Masjid or Pearl Mosque.
But he never lived at Delhi
after 1682. The palace is
therefore associated with the
tragedies and squalor of
the decline and fall of the
Moghal Empire rather than
with its glories. In 1739 it
was robbed of the Kohinur
and the Peacock throne by
Nadir Shah, in 1788 it saw
the descendants of Akbar
tortured and the aged Em-
peror blinded by the hateful
Ghulam Kadir, and on 16th
May, 1857 the mutineers
massacred fifty Christians captive within its walls. When
viewing the public and private halls of audience, known
as the Diwan i 'Am and the Diwan i Khass, it is however
natural to think rather of scenes of splendour such as
Bernier described when Aurangzeb sat in royal apparel
on the Peacock throne with a king's ransom in the aigrette
of his turban and the rope of pearls which hung from his
neck. On such an occasion, the pillars of the Diwan i 'Am
were hung with gold brocades and the floors covered with
rich silken carpets. Half the court outside was occupied
by a magnificent tent and the arcade galleries surrounding
it were decked with brocades and covered with costly
carpets. The marble Diwan i Khass with its lovely pillars
decorated with gold and precious stones is surely the
most splendid withdrawing room that a monarch ever
possessed. There is nothing in the Moorish palace at
Granada which can for a moment be compared with
these two halls. For a description of them and of the
Fig. 145. Map of Delhi City.
330 CITIES [ch.
other buildings in the Fort the reader must refer to
Mr Fanshawe's book. In the Viceroyalty of Lord Curzon
and since much has been done to restore their surroundings
to some semblance of their former state. But the heavy-
British barracks occupied by the little garrison are very
incongruous with the remains of Moghal grandeur.
Leaving the Fort by the Southern or Delhi Gate and
turning to the right one is faced by the Jama Masjid,
another monument of the taste of Shahjahan. The gate-
way and the lofty ascent into this House of God are very
fine. The mosque in the regular beauty and grandeur of
its lines, appealing to the sublimity rather than to the
mystery of religion, is a fitting symbol of the faith for
whose service it was raised. South of the Jama Masjid
in a part of the city once included in Firozabad stands
the Kalan or Kala Masjid with low cupolas and heavy
square black pillars, a striking example of the sombre
architecture of the Tughlak period. A narrow street
called the Dariba leads from the Jama Masjid to the wide
Chandni (Silver) Chauk. The Dariba was formerly closed
by the Khuni Darwaza or Gate of Blood, so called because
here occurred that terrible massacre of the citizens of
Delhi which Nadir Shah witnessed from the neighbouring
Golden Mosque. Besides its width there is nothing re-
markable about the Chandni Chauk. But the visitor in
quest of silver work, jewellery, or embroidery will rind
there many shopkeepers ready to cater for his wants. It
was while passing down the Chandni Chauk in an elephant
procession on 23rd December, 1912, that Lord Hardinge
was wounded by a bomb thrown from one of the houses.
From the Chauk one may pass through the Queen's
Gardens and Road to the opening in the wall where the
Kabul Gate once stood and so leave the City. A tablet
in the vicinity marks the spot where John Nicholson fell.
When visiting the old Delhis it is a good plan to drive
xxixl CITIES 33i
again through the City and to leave it by the Delhi Gate.
Humayun's tomb, an early and simple, but striking,
specimen of Moghal architecture, is reached at a distance
of four miles along the Mathra road. Outside the City
the road first leaves on the left side the ruined citadel of
Firoz Shah containing the second Asoka pillar. North and
south of this citadel the town of Firozabad once lay. It
ended where the Purana Kila' or Old Fort, the work
of Sher Shah and Humayun, now stands, a conspicuous
object from the road about three miles from Delhi. The
red sandstone gateway very narrow in proportion to
its height is a noble structure, and within the walls is
Sher Shah's mosque. The fort and mosque are the last
important works of the second or Tughlak period. Hindus
call the site of the Old Fort, Indarpat. If any part of
Delhi has a claim to antiquity it is this, for it is alleged
to be one of the five "pats" or towns over which the war
celebrated in the Mahabharata was waged. A recent
cleaning of part of the interior of the fort brought to
light bricks belonging to the Gupta period. From
Humayun's tomb a cross road leads to the Gurgaon road
and the Kutb. But the visitor who has seen enough of
buildings for the day may proceed further down the
Mathra road and reach the headworks of the Agra Canal
at Okhla by a side road. The view looking back to Delhi
up the Jamna is fine.
The Kutb Minar. — Starting for the Kutb from Huma-
yun's tomb (page 207) the Dargah of the great Chisti saint
and political intriguer, Nizam ud din Aulia, is passed on the
left. He died in 1324 a.d. Just at the point where the
cross road meets the Gurgaon road is the tomb of Safdar
Jang, the second of the Nawab Wazirs of Oudh. He died
after the middle of the eighteenth century, and the building
is wonderfully good considering that it is one of the latest
important monuments of the Moghal period. Six miles to
332 CITIES . [ch.
the south of Safdar Tang's tomb the entrance to the
Kutb Minar enclosure is reached. The great Kuwwat ul
Islam mosque of Kutbuddin Aibak (page 204) was con-
structed out of the materials of a Jain temple which stood
on the site. Evidence of this is to be found in the im-
perfectly defaced sculptures on the pillars. An iron pillar
nearly 24 feet in height dating back probably to the sixth
century stands in the court. The splendid column known
as the Kutb Minar (page 205), begun by Kutbuddin and
completed by his successor Shams ud din Altamsh, was
the minaret of the mosque from which the mu'azzin
called the faithful to prayer. The disappointment that
may be felt when it is seen from a distance is impossible
on a nearer view. Its height is now 238 feet, but it
was formerly surmounted "by a majestic cupola of red
granite." Close by is the Alai Darwaza, a magnificent
gateway built by Ala ud din Tughlak in 13 10, about 90
years after the Minar was finished. Five miles east of
the Kutb are the cyclopean ruins of Tughlakabad (page
206).
Delhi past and present. — The Delhi of Aurangzeb was
as much a camp as a city. When the Emperor moved
to Agra or Kashmir the town was emptied of a large part
of its inhabitants. It contained one or two fine bazars,
and nobles and rich merchants and shopkeepers had good
houses, set sometimes in pleasant gardens. But the
crowds of servants and followers occupied mud huts,
whose thatched roofs led to frequent and widespread
fires. In that insanitary age these may have been
blessings in disguise. "In Delhi," wrote Bernier, "there
is no middle state. A man must either be of the highest
rank or live miserably.... For two or three who wear
decent apparel there may always be reckoned seven or
eight poor, ragged, and miserable beings." The ordinary
street architecture of modern Delhi is mean enough, and
xxix] CITIES 333
posterity will not open an eyelid to look at the public
buildings which its present rulers have erected in the city.
But at least the common folk of Delhi are better housed,
fed, and clad than ever before. It is now a clean well-
managed town with a good water supply, and it has become
an important railway centre and a thriving place of trade.
Since 1881 the population has steadily increased from
173,393 to 232,837 in 1911. In 1911-12 the imports into
Delhi City from places outside the Panjab amounted to
9,172,302 maunds. There are some fifteen cotton ginning,
spinning, and weaving mills, besides flour mills, iron
foundries, two biscuit manufactories, and a brewery.
The city is well supplied with hospitals including two
for women only. Higher education has been fostered by
S. Stephen's College in charge of the Cambridge Missionary
brotherhood. The Hindu college has not been very
successful. Delhi has had famous "hakims," practising
the Yunani or Arabic system of medicine, which is taught
in a flourishing school known as the Madrasa i Tibbiya.
Imperial Darbars. — In this generation the plain to the
north of the Ridge has been the scene of three splendid
darbars. When on 1st January, 1877, Queen Victoria
assumed the title of Empress of India (Kaisar i Hind) it
seemed fitting that the proclamation of the fact to the
princes and peoples of India should be made by Lord
Lytton at the old seat of imperial power. On 1st January,
1903, Lord Curzon held a darbdr on the same spot to
proclaim the coronation of King Edward the Vllth.
Both these splendid ceremonies were surpassed by the
darbdr of 12th December, 191 1, when King George and
Queen Mary were present in person, and the Emperor
received the homage of the ruling chiefs, the great officials,
and the leading men of the different provinces. The
King and Queen entered Delhi on 7th December, and in
the week that followed the craving of the Indian peoples
334
CITIES
[CH.
for " darshan " or a sight of their sovereign was abundantly
gratified. None who saw the spectacles of that historic
week will ever forget them.
New Imperial Capital. — The turn of Fortune's Wheel
has again made Delhi an imperial city. The transfer of
the seat of government from Calcutta announced by the
Fig. 146. Darbar Medal.
King Emperor at the darbar, is now being carried out.
The site will probably extend from Safdar Jang's tomb to
a point lying to the west of Firoz Shah's citadel.
Lahore (31.34 N., 74.21 E.). The capital of the Panjab
lies on the east bank of the Ravi, which once flowed close
to the Fort, but has moved a mile or two to the west.
In high floods the waters still spread over the lowlands
between the Ravi and the Fort. Lahore lies nearly half-
way between Delhi and Peshawar, being nearer to the
latter than to the former.
Early History. — Practically we know nothing of its
history till Mahmud conquered the Panjab and put a
garrison in a fort at Lahore. Henceforth its history was
intimately connected with Muhammadan rule in India.
Whether north-western India was ruled from Ghazni or
from Delhi, the chief provincial governor had his head-
quarters at Lahore. In the best days of Moghal rule
xxix] CITIES 335
Agra and Lahore were the two capitals of the Empire.
Lahore lay on the route to Kabul and Kashmir, and it
was essential both to the power and to the pleasures of
the Emperors that it should be strongly held and united
to Delhi and Agra by a Royal or Bddshdhi Road. The
City and the Suburbs in the reign of Shahjahan probably
covered three or four times the area occupied by the town
in the days of Sikh rule. All round the city are evidences
of its former greatness in ruined walls and domes.
The Civil Station. — The Anarkali gardens and the
buildings near them mark the site of the first Civil Station.
John Lawrence's house, now owned by the Raja of Punch,
is beyond the Chauburji on the Multan Road. The Civil
Lines have stretched far to the south-east in the direction
of the Cantonment, which till lately took its name from
the tomb of Mian Mir, Jahangir's spiritual master. The
soil is poor and arid. Formerly the roads were lined with
dusty tamarisks. But of late better trees have been
planted, and the Mall is now quite a fine thoroughfare.
The Lawrence Hall Gardens and the grounds of Govern-
ment House show what can be done to produce beauty
out of a bad soil when there is no lack of water. There
is little to praise in the architecture or statuary of modern
Lahore. The marble canopy over Queen Victoria's statue
is however a good piece of work. Of the two cathedrals
the Roman Catholic is the better building. The Mont-
gomery Hall with the smaller Lawrence Hall attached,
a fine structure in a good position in the public gardens,
is the centre of European social life in Lahore. Govern-
ment House is close by, on the opposite side of the Mall.
Its core, now a unique and beautiful dining-room with
domed roof and modern oriental decoration, is the tomb
of Muhammad Kasim Khan, a cousin of Akbar. Jamadar
Khushal Singh, a well-known man in Ranjit Singh's reign,
built a house round the tomb. After annexation, Henry
336 CITIES [ch.
Lawrence occupied it for a time, and Sir Robert Mont-
gomery adopted it as Government House. It is now
much transformed. Beyond Government House on the
road to the Cantonment are the Club and the Panjab
Chiefs' College, the only successful attempt in Lahore to
adapt oriental design to modern conditions.
The Indian City. — In its streets and bazars Lahore is
a truly eastern city, and far more interesting than Delhi,
so far as private buildings are concerned. In public
Fig. 147 Street in Lahore.
edifices it possesses some fine examples of Moghal archi-
tecture. Every visitor should drive through the town to
the Fort past Wazir Khan's mosque. Under British rule
the height of the city wall has been reduced by one-half
and the moat filled in and converted into a garden.
Wazir Khan's mosque founded in 1634 by a Panjabf
xxix] CITIES 337
minister of Shahjahan, is a noble building profusely
adorned with glazed tiles and painted panels. The
Golden Mosque was constructed 120 years later about
the same time as Safdar Jang's tomb at Delhi. The
palace fort, built originally by Akbar, contains also the
work of his three successors. The Shish Mahal or Hall
of Mirrors, which witnessed the cession of the Panjab to
the Queen of England, was begun by Shahjahan and
finished by Aurangzeb. The armoury contains a curious
collection of weapons. The Badshahi Mosque opposite
with its beautiful marble domes and four lofty minarets
of red sandstone was founded in 1673 in the reign of
Aurangzeb. The cupolas were so shaken by an earth-
quake in 1840 that they had to be removed. Maharaja
Ranjit Singh used the mosque as a magazine. In the
space between it and the Fort he laid out the pretty
orange garden known as the Huzuri Bagh and set in it
the marble bdradari which still adorns it. Close by are
his own tomb and that of Arjan Das, the fifth Guru.
Buildings outside Lahore. — The best example of
Moghal architecture is not at Lahore itself, but at Shah-
dara across the Ravi. Here in a fine garden is the
Mausoleum of Jahangir with its noble front and four
splendid towers. It enshrines an exquisite sarcophagus,
which was probably once in accordance with the Emperor's
wish open to the sunlight and the showers. Near by are
the remains of the tombs of his beautiful and imperious
consort, Nur Jahan, and of her brother Asaf Khan, father
of the lady of the Taj. Another building associated with
Jahangir is Anarkali's tomb beside the Civil Secretariat.
The white marble sarcophagus is a beautiful piece of work
placed now in most inappropriate surroundings. The tomb
was reared by the Emperor to commemorate the unhappy
object of his youthful love. Half-a-mile off on the Multan
road is the Chauburji, once the gateway of the Garden
D. P. 22
.u«
CITIES
[CH.
of Zebunnissa, a learned daughter of Aurangzeb. The
garden has disappeared, but the gateway, decorated with
I
ui, Ji
■ ■
1
•
ill
'H j| m t
iii
jjj
H
Fig. 148. Shahdara.
blue and green tiles, though partially ruined, is still a
beautiful object. On the other side of Lahore on the
road to Amritsar are the Shalimar Gardens laid out by
Shahjahan for the ladies of his court. When the paved
channels are full and the fountains are playing, and the
lights of earthen lamps are reflected in the water, Shalimar
is still a pleasant resort.
The Museum in Anarkali contains much of interest to
Indians and Europeans. The "house of wonders" is very
popular with the former. It includes a very valuable
collection of Buddhist sculptures. Opposite the museum
is the famous Zamzama gun (page 187).
Growth of Lahore. As the headquarters of an im-
portant Government and of a great railway system
xxix] CITIES 339
Lahore has prospered. Owing to the influx of workers
the population has risen rapidly from 157,287 in 1881 to
228,687 m 1911- The railway alone affords support to
30,000 people, of whom 8000 are employed in the work-
shops.
Amritsar (31.38 N., 74.53 E.) is a modern town founded
in the last quarter of the sixteenth century by the fourth
Guru, Ram Das, on a site granted to him by Akbar.
Here he dug the Amrita Saras or Pool of Immortality,
leaving a small platform in the middle as the site of that
Har Mandar, which rebuilt is to-day, under the name of
the Darbar Sahib, the centre of Sikh devotion. The fifth
Guru, Arjan Das, completed the Har Mandar. Early in
the eighteenth century Amritsar became without any
rival the Mecca of the Sikhs, who had now assumed an
attitude of warlike resistance to their Muhammadan rulers.
Once and again they were driven out, but after the victory
at Sirhind in 1763 they established themselves securely
in Amritsar, and rebuilt the temple which Ahmad Shah
had burned. Ran jit Singh covered the Darbar Sahib
with a copper gilt roof, whence Englishmen commonly
call it the Golden Temple. He laid out the Ram Bagh,
still a beautiful garden, and constructed the strong fort
of Govindgarh outside the walls.
Trade and Manufactures. — Amritsar lies in a hollow
close to a branch of the Upper Bari Doab Canal. Water-
logging is a great evil and accounts for the terrible epr
demies of fever, which have occurred from time to time.
The population has fluctuated violently, and at the last
census was 152,756, or little larger than in 1881. Long
before annexation the shawl industry was famous. The
caprice of fashion a good many years ago decreed its ruin,
but carpet weaving, for which Amritsar is still famous,
fortunately did something to fill the gap. Amritsar has
also been an entrepot of trade with other Asiatic countries.
22 — 2
34° CITIES [ch.
It has imported raw silk from Bokhara, and later from
China, and woven it into cloth. It has dealt in China
tea, but that is a decreasing trade, in opium from Afghan-
istan, and in char as from Central Asia. There is a con-
siderable export of foreign piece goods to Kashmir and
the N. W. F. Province.
Multan (30.1 N., 71.3 E.), though now the smallest of
the four great towns of the Panjab, is probably the most
ancient. It is very doubtful whether it is the fortress of
the Malloi, in storming which Alexander was wounded.
But when Hiuen Tsang visited it in 741 a.d. it was a well-
known place with a famous temple of the Sun God.
Muhammad Kasim conquered it in 712 a.d. (page 166).
It was not till the savage Karmatian heretics seized
Multan towards the end of the tenth century that the
temple, which stood in the fort, was destroyed. It was
afterwards rebuilt, but was finally demolished by order of
Aurangzeb, who set up in its place a mosque. Under the
Moghals Multan was an important town, through which
the trade with Persia passed. Its later history has already
been noticed (pages 183 and 186).
The Fort contains the celebrated Prahladpuri temple,
much damaged during the siege in 1848, but since rebuilt.
Its proximity to the tomb of Bahawal Hakk, a very holy
place in the eyes of the Muhammadans of the S.W. Panjab
and Sindh, has at times been a cause of anxiety to the
authorities. Bahawal Hakk and Baba Farid, the two
great saints of the S.W. Panjab, were contemporaries and
friends. They flourished in the thirteenth century, and it
probably would be true to ascribe largely to their influence
the conversion of the south-west Panjab to Islam, which
was so complete and of which we know so little. The
tomb of Bahawal Hakk was much injured during the siege,
but afterwards repaired. Outside is a small monument
marking the resting place of the brave old Nawab Muzaffar
xxix] CITIES 341
Khan. Another conspicuous object is the tomb of Rukn
ud dm 'Alam, grandson of Bahawal Hakk. An obelisk
in the fort commemorates the deaths of the two British
officers who were murdered on the outbreak of the revolt.
A simpler epitaph would have befitted men who died in
the execution of their duty.
Trade and Manufactures. — Though heat and dust make
the climate of Multan trying, it is a very healthy place.
The population rose steadily from 68,674 in 188 1 to 99,243
in 191 1. The chief local industries are silk and cotton
weaving and the making of shoes. Multan has also some
reputation for carpets, glazed pottery and enamel, and of
late for tin boxes. A special feature of its commerce is
the exchange of piece goods, shoes, and sugar for the raw
silk, fruits, spices, and drugs brought in by Afghan traders.
The Civil Lines lie to the south of the city and connect it
with the Cantonment, which is an important military
station.
Peshawar (34.1 N., 71.35 E.) is 276 miles from Lahore
and 190 from Kabul. There is little doubt that the old
name was Purushapura, the town of Purusha, though
Abu Rihan (Albiruni), a famous Arab geographer, who
lived in the early part of the eleventh century, calls it
Parshawar, which Akbar corrupted into Peshawar, or the
frontier fort. As the capital of King Kanishka it was
in the second century of the Christian era a great centre
of Buddhism (page 164). Its possession of Buddha's
alms bowl and of yet more precious relics of the Master
deposited by Kanishka in a great stupa (page 203) made
it the first place to be visited by the Chinese pilgrims who
came to India between 400 and 630 a.d. Hiuen Tsang
tells us the town covered 40 li or 6f miles. Its position
on the road to Kabul made it a place of importance
under the Moghal Empire. On its decline Peshawar
became part of the dominions of the Durani rulers of
342 CITIES [ch.
Kabul, and finally fell into the hands of Ranjit Singh.
His Italian general Avitabile ruled it with an iron rod. In
1901 it became the capital of the new N. W. F. Province.
The Town lies near the Bara stream in a canal-irrigated
tract. On the north-west it is commanded by the Bala
Hissar, a fort outside the walls. The suburbs with famous
fruit gardens are on the south side, and the military and
civil stations to the west. The people to be seen in the
bazars of Peshawar are more interesting than any of its
buildings. The Gor Khatri, part of which is now the
tahsil, from which a bird's-eye view of the town can
be obtained, was successively the site of a Buddhist
monastery, a Hindu temple, a rest-house built by
Jahangir's Queen, Nur Jahan, and the residence of
Avitabile. The most noteworthy Muhammadan building
is Muhabbat Khan's mosque. Avitabile used to hang
people from its minarets. The Hindu merchants live in
the quarter known as Andar Shahr, the scene of destructive
fires in 1898 and 1913. Peshawar is now a well-drained
town with a good water supply. It is an entrepot of
trade with Kabul and Bokhara. From the former come
raw silk and fruit, and from the latter gold and silver
thread and lace en route to Kashmir. The Kabul! and
Bokharan traders carry back silk cloth, cotton piece
goods, sugar, tea, salt, and Kashmir shawls.
Simla (31.6 N., 77.1 E.) lies on a spur of the Central
Himalaya at a mean height exceeding 7000' feet. A fine
hill, Jakko, rising 1000 feet higher, and clothed with
deodar, oak, and rhododendron, occupies the east of the
station and many of the houses are on its slopes. The
other heights are Prospect Hill and Observatory Hill in
the western part of the ridge. Viceregal Lodge is a con-
spicuous object on the latter, and below, between it and
the Annandale race-course, is a fine glen, where the
visitor in April from the dry and dusty plains can gather
XXIX]
CITIES
343
yellow primroses (Primula floribunda) from the dripping
rocks. The beautiful Elysium Hill is on a small spur
Fig. 149. Trans-border traders in Peshawar.
running northwards from the main ridge. Simla is 58
miles by cart road from Kalka, at the foot of the hills,
and somewhat further by the narrow gauge railway.
344 CITIES [ch. xxix
History. — Part of the site was retained at the close of the
Gurkha war in 1816, and the first English house, a wooden
cottage with a thatched roof, was built three years later.
The first Governor General to spend the summer in Simla
was Lord Amherst in 1827. After the annexation of the
Panjab in 1849 Lord Dalhousie went there every year,
and from 1864 Simla may be said to have become the
summer capital of India. It became the summer head-
quarters of the Panjab Government twelve years later.
The thirty houses of 1830 have now increased to about
2000. Six miles distant on the beautiful Mahasu Ridge
the Viceroy has a "Retreat," and on the same ridge and
below it at Mashobra there are a number of European
houses. There are excellent hotels in Simla, and the cold
weather tourist can pay it a very pleasant visit, provided
he avoids the months of January and February.
Srinagar (34.5 N., 74.5 E.), the summer capital of the
Maharaja of Kashmir, is beautifully situated on both
banks of the river Jhelam at a level of 5250 feet above
the sea. To the north are the Hariparvat or Hill of
Vishnu with a rampart built by Akbar and the beautiful
Dal lake. Every visitor must be rowed up its still waters
to the Nasim Bagh, a grove of plane (chendr) trees, laid
out originally in the reign of the same Emperor. Between
the lake and the town is the Munshi Bagh, in and near
which are the houses of Europeans including the Residency.
The splendid plane trees beside the river bank, to which
house boats are moored, and the beautiful gardens
attached to some of the houses, make this a very charming
quarter. The Takht i Suliman to the west of Srinagar is
crowned by a little temple, whose lower walls are of great
age. The town itself is intersected by evil-smelling canals
and consists in the main of a jumble of wooden houses
with thatched roofs. Sanitary abominations have been
cleansed from time to time by great fires and punished
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346 CITIES [ch. xxix
by severe outbreaks of cholera. The larger part of the
existing city is on the left side. The visitor may be
content to view the parts of the town to be seen as he
is rowed down the broad waterway from the Munshi Bagh
passing under picturesque wooden bridges, and beside
temples with shining metal roofs and the beautiful mosque
of Shah Hamadan. On the left bank below the first
bridge is the Shergarhi with the Maharaja's houses and
the Government Offices. Opposite is a fine ghat or
bathing place with stone steps. Between the third and
fourth bridges on the right bank is Shah Hamadan's
mosque, a carved cedar house with Buddhist features,
totally unlike the ordinary Indian mosque. The stone
mosque close by on the opposite side, built by Mir Jahan,
was seemingly rejected by Muhammadans as founded
by a woman, and is now a State granary. The Jama
Masjid is on the north side, but not on the river bank.
The tomb of the great king, Zain ul Abidin, is below the
fourth bridge, which bears his name. In the same quarter
are the storehouses of the dealers in carpets and art wares
and the Mission School. The last should be visited by
anyone who wishes to see what a manly education can
make of material in some respects unpromising.
CHAPTER XXX
OTHER PLACES OF NOTE
I. Panjab.
(a) Anibdla Division.
Ambala, 30-2 N.-76-4 E. Population 80,131, of which 54,223
in Cantonments. A creation of British rule. It became the head-
quarters of the Political Agent for the Cis-Sutlej States in 1823,
and the Cantonment was established in 1843. The Native City
and the Civil Lines lie some miles to the N.W. of the Cantonment.
Headquarters of district and division.
Bhiwani (Hissar), 28-5 N.-76-8 E. Headquarters of tahsil in
Hissar. Population 31,100. On Rewari — Ferozepore branch of
Rajputana — Malwa Railway. Has a brisk trade with Rajputana.
Hansi (Hissar), 297 N. -75-6 E. Headquarters of tahsil.
Population 14,576. A very ancient town. In centre of canal
tract of Hissar, and a local centre of the cotton trade.
Hissar, 29-1 N. -75-4 E. Headquarters of district. Population
17,162. Founded by the Emperor Firoz Shah Tughlak, who
supplied it with water by a canal taken from the Jamna. This
was the origin of the present Western Jamna Canal. Is now a
place of small importance.
Jagadhri (Ambala), 30-1 N.-77-2 E. Headquarters of tahsil.
Population 12,045. Connected with the N.W. Railway by a light
railway. The iron and brass ware of Jagadhri are well known.
Kaithal (Karnal), 29-5 N -76-2 E. Headquarters of sub-
division and tahsil. Population 12,912. A town of great
antiquity. Kaithal is a corruption of Kapisthala — the monkey
town, a name still appropriate. Timur halted here on his march
to Delhi. Was the headquarters of the Bhais of Kaithal, who held
high rank among the Cis-Sutlej Sikh chiefs. Kaithal lapsed in
1843.
34» OTHER PLACES OF NOTE [ch.
Karnal, 29-4 N.-76-6 E. Headquarters of district. Popu-
lation 21,961. On Delhi — Kalka Railway. Till the Western
Jamna Canal was realigned it was most unhealthy, and the
Cantonment was given up in 1841 on this account. The health
of the town is still unsatisfactory. Trade unimportant.
Kasauli (Ambala), 30-5 N.-76-6 E. Small hill station over-
looking Kalka. Height 6000 feet. The Pasteur Institute for
the treatment of rabies is at Kasauli, and the Lawrence Military
School at Sanawar, three miles off.
Panipat (Karnal), 29-2 N.-76-6 E. Headquarters of tahsil.
Population 26,342. On Delhi — Kalka Railway. An important
place in Hindu and Muhammadan times (pages 172 and 179).
Local manufactures, brass vessels, cutlery, and glass.
Pihowa (Karnal), 296 N.~76'3 E. A very sacred place on the
holy stream Sarusti.
Rewari (Gurgaon), 28-1 N.-76-4 E. Headquarters of tahsil.
Population 24,780. Junction of main line and Rewari — Bhatinda
branch of Rajputana — Malwa Railway. Trade in grain and
sugar with Rajputana.
Rupar (Ambala), 30-6 N.-76-3 E. Headquarters of sub-
division and tahsil. Population 6935. Exchange market for
products of Hills and Plains. Headworks of Sirhind Canal are
at Rupar.
Sirsa (Hissar), 29-3 N.-75-2 E. Headquarters of subdivision
and tahsil. Population 14,629. Sirsa or Sarsuti was an impor-
tant place in Muhammadan times. Deserted in the great famine
of 1783 it was refounded in 1838. On the Rewari — Bhatinda
Branch of the Rajputana — Malwa Railway. Has a brisk trade
with Rajputana.
Thanesar (Karnal), 29-6 N.-76-5 E. See pages 165 and 168.
Noted place of pilgrimage. Headquarters of a tahsil. Population
4719. The old Hindu temples were utterly destroyed apparently
when Thanesar was sacked by Mahmud in 1014. There is a
fine tomb of a Muhammadan Saint, Shekh Chilli.
(b) Jalandhar Division.
Aliwal, 306 N.-75-4 E. Scene of Sir Harry Smith's victory
over the Sikhs on 28th January, 1846.
Dharmsala (Kangra), 32-1 N.-76-i E. Headquarters of dis-
trict. On a spur of the Dhauladhar Range. A Gurkha regiment
xxx] OTHER PLACES OF NOTE 349
is stationed here. The highest part of Dharmsala is over 7000
feet, and the scenery is very fine, but the place is spoiled as a hill
station by the excessive rainfall, which averages over 120 inches.
In the earthquake of 1905, 1625 persons, including 25 Europeans,
perished.
Fazilka (Ferozepore), 30-3 N.-743 E. Headquarters of sub-
division and tahsil. Population 10,985. Terminus of Fazilka
extension of Rajputana — Malwa Railway, and connected with
Ludhiana by a line which joins the Southern Panjab Railway at
Macleodganj. A grain mart.
Ferozepore, 30-6 N.-74«4 E. Headquarters of district. Popu-
lation 50,836 including 26,158 in Cantonment. (See page 245.)
Ferozeshah (Ferozepore), 30-5 N.-74-5 E. The real name is
Pherushahr. Sir Hugh Gough defeated the Sikhs here after two
days' hard fighting on Dec 21-22, 1845.
Jalandhar, 31-2 N.-75-3 E. Headquarters of district. Popu-
lation 69,318, including 13,964 in Cantonment. The Cantonment
lies four miles to the S.E. of the native town and three miles from
the Civil Lines. (See page 241.)
Jawala Mukhi (Kangra), 31-5 N.-76-2 E. Celebrated place of
Hindu pilgrimage with a famous temple of the goddess Jawala-
mukhi, built over some jets of combustible gas.
Kangra, 30-5 N. -76-2 E. Headquarters of tahsil. Ancient
name Nagarkot. The celebrated temple and the fort of the
Katoch kings of Kangra were destroyed in the earthquake of
1905. (See pages 168, 171, 183.)
Ludhiana, 30-6 ^-75-5 E. Headquarters of district. Popu-
lation 44,170. The manufacture of pashmina shawls was intro-
duced in 1833 by Kashmiris. Ludhiana is well known for its
cotton fabrics and turbans (p. 152).
Mudki (Ferozepore*), 30-5 N.-74-5 E. The opening battle of
the 1st Sikh War was fought here on 18th December, 1845.
(c) Lahore Division.
Batala (Gurdaspur), 30-5 N. -75-1 E. Headquarters of tahsil.
Population 26,430. Chief town in Gurdaspur district on the
Amritsar — Pathankot Railway. Cotton, silk, leathern goods, and
soap are manufactured, and there is a large trade in grain and
sugar. The Baring Anglo-Vernacular High School for Christian
boys is a well-known institution.
350 OTHER PLACES OF NOTE [ch.
Dalhousie (Gurdaspur), 33-3 N.-75-6 E. A well-known hill
station at height of 7687 feet, 51 miles N.W. of Pathankot, from
which it is reached by tonga. The Commissioner of Lahore and
the Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur spend part of the hot
weather at Dalhousie. It is a very pretty and healthy place, with
the fine Kalatop Forest in Chamba close by, and is deservedly
popular as a summer resort.
Gujranwala, 32-9 N.-74-i E. Headquarters of district. Popu-
lation 29,472. An active trade centre. Ranjit Singh was born,
and the tomb of his father, Mahan Singh is, at Gujranwala.
Kasur (Lahore), 31-8 ^".-74-3 E. Headquarters of tahsil in
Lahore. Population 24,783. Between Raiwind and Ferozepore
on N.W. Railway, and has direct railway communication with
Amritsar. A very ancient place and now an active local trade
centre.
Nankana-Sahib (Gujranwala), 31-6 N.-73-8 E. In south of
Gujranwala district on Chichoki — Shorkot Railway. ' Venerated
by Sikhs as the early home of Baba Nanak.
Sialkot, 32-3 N.-74-3 E. Headquarters of district. Population
64,869, of which 16,274 m Cantonment. A very old place con-
nected with the legendary history of Raja Salivahan and his
two sons Piiran and Raja Rasalu. (See also page 165.) The
Cantonment is about a mile and a half from the town. Sialkot
is an active trade centre. Its hand-made paper was once well
known, but the demand has declined. Tents, tin boxes, cricket
and tennis bats, and hockey sticks, are manufactured.
Tarn Taran (Amritsar), 31-3 N.-74-6 E. Headquarters of
tahsil. Population 4260. On Amritsar — Kasur Railway. The
tank is said to have been dug by Guru Arjan and it and the temple
beside it are held in great reverence by the Sikhs. The water is
supposed to cure leprosy. The leper asylum at Tarn Taran in
charge of the Rev. E. Guilford of the Church Missionary Society is
an admirable institution. Clay figures of this popular missionary
can be bought in the bazar.
(d) Rawalpindi Division.
Attock (Atak), 32-5 N.-72-I E. The fort was built by Akbar
to protect the passage of the Indus. In the river gorge, below
is a whirlpool between two jutting slate rocks, called Kamalia
and Jamalia after two heretics who were flung into the river in
xxx] OTHER PLACES OF NOTE 351
Akbar's reign. The bridge which carries the railway across the
Indus still makes Attock a position of military importance.
Population 630.
Bhera (Shahpur), 32-3 N— 72-6 E. Headquarters of tahsil.
Population 15,202. A very ancient town which was sacked by
Mahmud and two centuries later by Chingiz Khan. Has an
active trade. The wood-carvers of Bhera are skilful workmen.
Woollen felts are manufactured.
Chilianwala (Chelianwala) (Gujrat), 32-7 N.-73-6 E. Famous
battlefield (page 187).
Gujrat, 32-3 N.-74'5 E. Headquarters of district. Popula-
tion 19,090. An old place, famous in recent history for the great
battle on 22 February, 1849 (page 187). Has a brisk local trade.
Hasn Abdal (Attock), 335 N.-724 E. On N.W. Railway.
Shrine of Baba Wall Kandahar! on hill above village. Below is
the Sikh shrine of the Panja Sahib, the rock in which bears the
imprint of Baba Nanak's five fingers (panja).
Jhelam, 32-6 ^-73-5 E. Headquarters of district and an im-
portant cantonment. Population 19,678, of which 7380 in canton-
ment. Has only become a place of any importance under British
rule. Is an important depot for Kashmir timber trade.
Kalabagh (Mianwali), 32-6 N.-71 3 E. Population 6654. Pic-
turesquely situated below hills which are remarkable for the
fantastic shapes assumed by salt exposed on the surface. The
Kalabagh salt is in favour from its great purity. The Malik of
Kalabagh is the leading man in the Awan tribe.
Katas (Jhelam), 32-4 N.-72-6 E. A sacred pool in the Salt
Range and a place of Hindu pilgrimage. The tears of S_iva
weeping for the loss of his wife Sati formed the Kataksha pool
in the Salt Range and Pushkar at Ajmer.
Khewra (Jhelam), 32-4 ^".-73-3 E. In Salt Range five and a
half miles N.E. of Pinddadankhan. The famous Mayo Salt Mine
is here.
Malot (Jhelam), 32-4 N.-72-5 E. Nine miles W. of Katas (see
above). Fort and temple on a spur of the Salt Range. Temple
in early Kashmir style (Archaeological Survey Reports, Vol. v.
pp. 85-90).
Mankiala (Manikyala) (Rawalpindi), 33-3 N.-74-2 E. A little
village close to which are the remains of a great Buddhist stupa
and of a number of monasteries (page 202).
Murree (Marri) (Rawalpindi), 33-5 N.-73-2 E. Hill Station
352 OTHER PLACES OF NOTE [ch.
near Kashmir road on a spur of the Himalaya— height 7517 feet —
39 miles from Rawalpindi, from which visitors are conveyed by
tonga. The views from Mnrree are magnificent and the neigh-
bourhood of the Hazara Galis is an attraction. But the climate
is not really bracing. The summer headquarters of the Northern
Army are at Murree, and before 1876 the Panjab Government
spent the hot weather there. The Commissioner and Deputy Com-
missioner of Rawalpindi take their work there for several months.
Murti (Jhelam), 32-4 N.- 72-6 E. In Gandhala valley on bank
of Katas stream. Remains of a Buddhist stupa and of a Jain
temple. (Archaeological Survey Reports, Vol. it. pp, 88 and 90.)
Rawalpindi, 33-4 N.-737 E. Headquarters of district and
division, and the most important cantonment in Northern India.
Population 86,483, of which 39,841 in Cantonment. It owes its
importance entirely to British rule. Large carrying trade with
Kashmir. Contains the N.W. Railway Locomotive and Carriage
works and several private factories, also a branch of the Murree
brewery. There is an important arsenal. The Park, left for-
tunatelv mainly in its natural state, is an attractive feature of the
cantonment.
Rohtas (Jhelam), 32-6 N-73'5 E. Ten miles N.W. of Jhelam
on the far side of the gorge where the Kaha torrent breaks through
a spur of the Tilla Range. Fine remains of a very large fort built
by the Emperor Sher Shah Suri.
Sakesar (Shahpur), 31-3 N.-7I-6 E. Highest point of Salt
Range, 5010 feet above sea level. The Deputy Commissioners
of Shahpur, Mianwali, and Attock spend part of the hot weather
at Sakesar.
Shahdheri (Rawalpindi), 33-2 N.-72-5 E. On the Hazara
border and near the Margalla Pass. Site of the famous city of
Taxila (Takshasila) . See pages 161, 165, and 204. Excavation is
now being carried out with interesting results.
Taxila. See Shahdheri.
(e) Multdn Division.
Chiniot (Jhang), 31-4 N.-73-o E. Headquarters of tahsil.
Population 14,085. A very old town near the left bank of the
Chenab. Famous for brasswork and wood-carving. The Muham-
madan Khoja traders have large business connections with
Calcutta, Bombay, and Karachi. Fine mosque of the time of
Shahjahan.
xxx] OTHER PLACES OF NOTE 353
Kamalia (Lyallpur), 30-4 N.-72-4 E. Population 8237. An
old town. Cotton printing with hand blocks is a local industry.
The town should now prosper as it is a station on the Chichoki —
Shorkot Road Railway and irrigation from the Lower Chenab
Canal has reached its neighbourhood.
Lyallpur, 3I-3 N-~73-9 E. Fine new Colony town. Head-
quarters of district. Population 19,578. Large wheat trade
with Karachi, and has a number of cotton ginning and pressing
factories.
Montgomery, 30-4 N.-73-8 E. Headquarters of district. Popu-
lation 8129. May become a place of some importance with the
opening of the Lower Barf Doab Canal. Hitherto one of the
hottest and dreariest stations in the Panjab, but healthy.
Pakpattan, 30-2 N.-73-2 E. Headquarters of tahsil. Popula-
tion 7912. On Sutlej Valley Railway. Anciently known as
Ajodhan and was a place of importance. Contains shrine of the
great Saint Farid ul Hakk wa ud Din Shakarganj (1 173-1265).
Visited by Timur in 1398. There is a great annual festival
attracting crowds of pilgrims, who come even from Afghanistan.
There is great competition to win eternal bliss by getting first
through the gate at the entrance to the shrine.
II. Panjab Native States.
Bahawalpur, 29-2 N.-7T-5 E. Capital of State on N.W. Rail-
way 65 miles south of Multan. Population 18,414. There is
a large palace built by Nawab Muhammad Sadi'k Muhammad
Khan IV in 1882.
Barnala (Patiala), 32-2 ^-75-4 E. Headquarters of Anahad-
garh Nizamat on Rajpura — Bhatinda branch of N.W. Railway.
Population 5341. For the famous battle see page 179.
Bhatinda (Patiala), 30-1 N.-75-o E. Also called Govindgarh.
Old names are Vikramagarh and Bhatrinda. Historically a place
of great interest (page 167). Fell into decay in later Muham-
madan times. Is now a great railway junction and a flourishing
grain mart. The large fort is a conspicuous object for many miles
round. Population 15,037.
Brahmaur, 32-3 ^-76-4 E. The old capital of Chamba, now
a small village. Has three old temples. One of Lakshana Devi
has an inscription of Meru Varma, who ruled Chamba in the
seventh century.
D. P.
23
354 OTHER PLACES OF NOTE [ch.
Chamba, 32-3 N.-y6-i E. Capital of State picturesquely
situated on a plateau above right bank of Ravi. Population
5523. The white palace is a conspicuous object. There is an
excellent hospital and an interesting museum. The group of
temples near the palace is noteworthy (page 201). That of
Lakshmi Narayan perhaps dates from the tenth century. The
Ravi is spanned at Chamba by a fine bridge.
Chini (Bashahr), 31-3 N. -78-2 E. Headquarters of Kanawar
near the right bank of Sutlej. Elevation 9085 feet. Was a
favourite residence of Lord Dalhousie. There is a Moravian
Mission Station at Chini.
Kapurthala, 31 2 N.-752 E. Capital of State. Contains
Maharaja's palace. Population 16,367.
Malerkotla, 303 N.-756 E. Capital of State. Population
23,880.
Mandi, 31-4 N.-76-6 E. Capital of State. Population 7896.
On the Bias, 131 miles from Pathankot, with which it is connected
by the Pathankot — Palampur — Baijnath road. There is a fine
iron bridge spanning the Bias. It is a mart for trade with Ladakh
and Yarkand.
Nabha, 30-2 N.-76-I E. Capital of State. Population 13,620,
as compared with 18,468 in 1901. Founded in 1755 by Hamir
Singh (page 277). Since irrigation from the Sirhind Canal has
been introduced the environs have become waterlogged and the
town is therefore unhealthy.
Nahan, 30-3 N.-77-2 E. Capital of Sirmur State. Elevation
3207 feet. Population 6341. There is a good iron foundry at
Nahan.
Patiala, 30-2 N.-76-3 E. Capital of State. Population 46,974.
On Rajpura — Bhatinda Branch of N.W. Railway. Contains fine
gardens and modern buildings. The old palace is in the centre of
the town. Patiala is a busy mart for local trade.
Pattan Munara (Bahawalpur), 28-1 N.-70-2 E. There are the
ruins here of a large city and of a Buddhist monastery. They are
situated in the south of the State five miles east of Rahim Yar
Khan Station.
Sangrur (Jind), 30-1 N.-75-6 E. Became the capital of Jind
State in 1827. Population 9041. On Ludhiana — Dhuri — Jakhal
Railway.
Sirhind (Patiala), 30-4 N.-76-3 E. Properly Sahrind. On
N.W. Railway. Population 3843. The idea that the name is
xxx] OTHER PLACES OF NOTE 355
Sir-Hind = head of India is a mistake. An old town of great
importance in Muhammadan period (pages 177 and 180). The
ruins extend for several miles. There are two fine tombs known
as those of the Master and his Disciple dating probably from the
fourteenth century.
Sui Vehar (Bahawalpur), 29-2 N.-7I-3 E. Six miles from
Samasata. Site of a ruined Buddhist stupa. An inscription
found at Sui Vehar belongs to the reign of Kanishka (page 164).
Uch (Bahawalpur), 29-1 N.-7I-4 E. On the Sutlej near the
point where it joins the Chenab. Consists now of three villages.
But it was in early Muhammadan times a place of great impor-
tance, and a centre of learning. It is still very sacred in the eyes
of Musalmans.
III. North West Frontier Province.
(a) Districts.
Abbottabad, 34-9 N— 73*1 E. Headquarters of district and a
cantonment with four battalions of Gurkhas. Population 11,506.
At south end of Orash Plain 4120 feet above sea level. Appro-
priately named after Captain James Abbott (page 299).
Bannu. See Edwardesabad.
Cherat (Peshawar), 33-5 N.-7I-5 E. Small hill sanitarium in
Peshawar near Kohat border, 4500 feet above sea level.
Dera Ismail Khan, 31-5 N.-70-6 E. Headquarters of district
and a cantonment. Population 35,131, including 5730 in canton-
ment. The Powinda caravans pass through Dera Ismail Khan on
their march to and from India.
Dungagali (Hazara), 34-6 N.-73-2 E. Small sanitarium, eleva-
tion 7800 feet, in Hazara Galis, two miles from Nathiagalf.
Moshpurf rises above it to a height of 9232 feet.
Edwardesabad (Bannu), 33-0 N.-70-4 E. Headquarters of
Bannu district and a cantonment. Founded by Lieutenant
(afterwards Sir Herbert) Edwardes in 1848. Population 16,865.
It is unhealthy owing to the heavy irrigation in the neighbourhood.
Fort Lockhart (Kohat), 33-3 N.-70-6 E. Important military
outpost on Samana Range, elevation 6743 feet. Saragarhi,
heroically defended by twenty-one Sikhs in 1897 against several
thousand Orakzais, is in the neighbourhood.
23—2
356 OTHER PLACES OF NOTE [ch.
Kohat, 33-3 N. -7 1 -3 E. Headquarters of district and a
cantonment. Population 22,654, including 5957 in Cantonment.
On Khushalgarh — Thai Branch of N.W. Railway.
Mansehra (Hazara), 34-2 N.-73-i E. Headquarters of tahsil.
The two rock edicts of Asoka are in the neighbourhood (pages
163 and 202).
Nathiagali (Hazara), 34-5 N.-73-6 E. Summer headquarters
of Chief Commissioner of N.W.F. Province in Hazara Galls.
Elevation 8200 feet. It is a beautiful little hill station. Miran
Jani (9793 feet) is close by, and on a clear day Nanga Parvat can
be seen in the far distance.
Naushahra (Peshawar), 34 N.-72 E. Population 25,498, in-
cluding 14,543 in cantonment. On railway 27 miles east of
Peshawar. Risalpura, a new cavalry cantonment, is in the
neighbourhood.
Shekhbudin, 32-2 N.— 70*5 E. Small hill station on Nila Koh
on border of Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu districts. Elevation
4516 feet. It is on a bare limestone rock with very scanty vege-
tation and is hot in summer in the daytime. Water is scarce.
The Deputy Commissioners of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan
spend part of the hot weather at Shekhbudin.
Thai (Kohat), 33-2 N.-70-3 E. Important military outpost at
entrance of Kurram Valley. Terminus of Khushalgarh — Thai
branch of N.W. Railway.
Thandiani (Hazara), 34-1 N.-73-2 E. Small hill station in Galls
sixteen miles N.E. of Abbottabad. Elevation about 8800 feet
A beautifully situated place chiefly resorted to by residents of
Abbottabad and Missionaries.
(b) Agencies and Independent Territory.
Ali Masjid (Khaibar), 34-2 N.-7I-5 E. Village and fort in
Khaibar, io£ miles from Jamrud. Elevation 2433 feet.
Ambela (Indep. Territory), 34-2 N.-72-4 E. Pass in Buner,
which gave its name to the Ambela campaign of 1863 (page 191).
Chakdarra (Dir, Swat, and Chitral), 34-4 N.-72-8 E. Military
post to N.E. of Malakand Pass on south bank of Swat River.
Chitral, 35-5 N.-7I-5 E. A group of villages forming capital
of Chitral State. There is a small bazar.
Jamrud (Khaibar), 34N.-71.-2E. Just beyond Peshawar
boundary at mouth of Khaibar. Terminus of railway. 10 \ miles
xxx] OTHER PLACES OF NOTE 357
west of Peshawar. There is a fort and a large savai. Elevation
1670 feet.
Landi Kotal (Khaibar), 34-6 N.-7I-8 E. 20 miles from Jamriid.
Fort garrisoned by Khaibar Rifles at highest point of Khaibar
route. Elevation 3373 feet. Afghan frontier 6 miles beyond.
Malakand (Dir, Swat, and Chitral), 34-3 N.-7I-6 E. Pass
leading into Swat Valley from Peshawar district.
Miram Shah (N. Waziristan), 33-6 N.-70-7 E. Headquarters of
North Waziristan Agency in Tochi Valley 3050 feet above the sea.
Parachinar (Kurram), 33-5 N.-70-4 E. Headquarters of
Kurram Agency and of Kurram Militia. Climate temperate.
Population 2364.
Wana (S. Waziristan), 37-2 N.-6g-4 E. Headquarters of South
Waziristan Agency. In a wide valley watered by Wana Toi.
There is much irrigation and the place is unhealthy, though the
elevation of the Valley is from 4300 to 5800 feet.
IV. Kashmir and Jammu.
Baramula, 34-1 N.-74-2 E. Situated at the point where the
Jhelam gorge ends and the Vale of Kashmir begins. Travellers
who intend to go to Srinagar by water board their house boats
here. There is an excellent poplar-lined road from Baramula to
Srinagar and a bad road to Gulmarg.
Chilas, 35-4 N.-74-2 E. See page 323.
Gulmarg, 34-1 N.-74>4 E. S.W. of Srinagar. It is a favourite
hot weather resort of Europeans. The Maharaja has a house
here. The forest scenery is beautiful, especially on the way to
the limit of trees at Khilanmarg. Good golf links on beautiful
turf.
Gurais, 34-7 N.-74-8 E. A beautiful valley drained by the
head waters of the Kishnganga. It lies between Bandipura and
the Burzil Pass on the road to Gilgit.
Hunza, 36-4 N-74'7 E. (See page 323.) Hunza is a group
of villages. The Raja's (or Tham's) fort, Baltit castle, at an
elevation of 7000 feet is splendidly situated in full view of
Rakaposhi, distant 20 miles. It is overhung by the enormous
mass of snow peaks said to be called in the language of the
country Boiohaghurduanasur (the peak of the galloping horse).
358 OTHER PLACES OF NOTE [ch. xxx
Islamabad, 33-4 N.— 75-1 E. About 40 miles by river from
Srinagar, near the point where the Jhelam ceases to be navigable.
Achabal and Martand are easily visited from Islamabad, and it
is the starting point for the Liddar Valley and Pahlgam. It is
a dirty insanitary place.
Jammu, 32-4 N.-74-5 E. Capital of the Jammu province and
winter residence of the Maharaja. Connected with Sialkot by
rail. Situated above the ravine in which the TaWi flows. At
a distance the white-washed temples with gilded pinnacles look
striking. The town was once much more prosperous than it is
to-day.
Leh, 34-2 N.-77-5 E. Capital of Ladakh. On the Indus
11,500 feet above sea-level. The meeting place of caravans from
India and Yarkand. The Central Asian caravans arrive in
Autumn, when the bazar, in a wide street lined with poplars,
becomes busy. The Wazir Wazarat has his headquarters here,
and there is a small garrison in the mud fort. The old palace
of the Gyalpo (King) is a large pile on a ridge overhanging the
town. There are Moravian and Roman Catholic missions at
Leh.
Martand, 33-4 N.-75'i E. Remains of a remarkable temple
of the Sun god three miles east of Islamabad (pages 166 and
201).
Payer (erroneously Payech). Nineteen miles from Srinagar
containing a beautiful and well-preserved temple of the Sun god,
dated variously from the fifth to the thirteenth century (page
202).
Punch, 33-4 N.-74-9 E. Capital of the jdgir of the Raja of
Punch, a feudatory of the Kashmir State. 3300 feet above sea
level. There is a brisk trade in grain and ghi. Decent roads
connect Punch with Rawalpindi and Uri on the Jhelam. Cart
Road into Kashmir. Kashmiris call the place Prunts and its
old name was Parnotsa.
Skardo, 35-3 N.-75-6 E. Old capital of Baltistan. 7250 feet
above sea-level. In a sandy basin lying on both sides of the
Indus, and about five miles in width. A tahsilddr is stationed
at Skardo.
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Table III. Diagrams relating to Cultivation.
Panjab
(a) Harvests and Irrigation
N.W.F. Province
(a) Harvests
(b) Classes of Land
Abi i p.c.
(b) Classes of Land
Table III {continued).
Diagrams relating to Cultivation.
Panjab
(c) Crops
N.W.F. Province
(c) Crops
P = Other Pulses
C = Cotton
M = Maize
P= Other Pulses
C= Cotton
F = Fodder
Oh
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li-
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CO co
Rawalpindi ...
Jhelam
Attock
Mianwali
42
o
'C
+->
CO
'■3
-co
'c
ctJ
Pin
"co1
-t->
o
H
Peshawar
Kohat
Bannu
fe
hh'
"c3
+->
o
H
Gujranwala ...
Lahore
Shahpur
Jhang
Lyallpur
Montgomery
Multan
Muzaffargarh
Dera Ghazi Khan . . .
10
-t->
_o
'u
co
-3
XI
«CS
'5"
CO
Ph
"cS
+->
o
H
PM
-co
M
P
Karnal
Rohtak
Gurgaon
Hissar
Ferozepore ...
CO
-p
O
'C
-M
CO
■3
-cS
"5'
cd
Ph
"c3
-M
O
H
Grand total Panjab
N.W.F. P.
■
c co
CD
u
<
•
South-
Western
Plains
South-
Eastern
Plains
(British
CO
4->
O
c
CO
P
Table V. Revenue and Expenditure, 1911-12.
Income
Expenditure
Provincial
Provincial
Heads
Total in
Total in
Rs. 000
Amount
Rs. 000
Amount
Share
in
Rs. 000
Share
in
Rs. 000
Land Revenue ...
3-47,92
Half
1,73,96
47,76
Whole
47,76
Salt
38,16
Nil
—
4,82
Nil
Stamps ...
52,57
Half
26,29
L77
Half
89
Excise ...
64,00
Half
32,00
L71
Half
86
Income-tax
l6,22
Half
8,11
11
Half
5
Forests ...
I3.IO
Whole
13,10
7.64
Whole
7.65
Eegistration
3.IO
Whole
3,i6
1,20
Whole
1,20
Genera] Adminis-
tration
—
—
—
18.33
Various
13,65
Law and Justice
— -Courts
4.35
Whole
4,35
42,18
Whole
42,18
Law and Justice
—Jails
3,4i
Whole
3,4i
12,24
Whole
12,24
Police
1,80
Whole
1,80
58,57
Whole
58,57
Education
3.64
Whole
3,64
23,27
Whole
23,27
Irrigation —
Major Works
2,13.08
Half
1,06,54
1,36,42
Half
68,21
Irrigation —
Minor Works
7-99
Various
56
11,17
Various
1,07
Civil Works
6,93
Various
6,20
67,90
Various
62,70
Medical
—
—
—
21,20
Whole
21,20
All other heads1
27,60
Nil and
various
16,21
56,96
Whole,
various,
and
nil
41,29
Total ...
8,03,93
—
3,99,33
5,13,25
4,02,79
1 Under Income "Salt," "Tribute," "Interest," "Miscellaneous,"
and "All other heads." Under Expenditure "Political," "Scientific,"
"Pensions," "Stationery," "All other items."
Cambridge Uniuersity Press
Muztagh-Karakoram Range will be found in the
leV in Kashmir, published in 1913.
INDEX
Abbott, Captain J. 299, 300
Abbottabad 302, 303, 355
Adamwahan railway bridge 46,
283
Adina Beg 179
Administration, British 1849-1913
188-195
General 212—221
Local 222
Afghan War 1878-1880 193
Afridis 196, 297, 309
Agriculture 101, 102, 143, Tables II,
III, IV
Agriculturists, Legislation to pro-
tect 102
Agror 303
Ahirs 230, 231
Ahmad Shah 178, 179
Aitchison, Sir Charles 194
Akazais 303
Akbar 172
Ala Singh, Raja 273, 274
Ala ud din 169
Alexander the Great 1 61-162
Alexandra railway bridge 41
Ali Masjid 356
Alptagin 168
Altamsh 170
Alum 59
Amb 303
Ambala division 225—235
district 233-235
town and cantonment 347
Ambela 192, 305, 356
Amritsar district 249
town 175, 339, 340
Anandpal Raja 168
Arains 242, 245, 248, 252, 279
Aravallis 50
Archaeology 200-208
Areas 2-3
Arjan Guru 175
Aroras 105, 106
Asoka 162, 163
Attock, Fort 37, 38, 350
Attock district 257, 258
Aurangzeb 172, 177
Awans 105, 254, 258-260, 299-300
Babar 172, 273
Babusar pass 301
Bahawalpur State 280-283
town 353
Bajaur 306
Balban 170
Banda 178
Banias 106
Bannu district 295, 296
town 355
Bar 261, 262, 267
Bara river 298, 309
Baralacha pass 12, 236
Baramula 40, 357
Ban Doab Canal, Upper 135, 249,
251
Lower 138, 262
Barnala 179, 353
Bashahr State 287-290
Baspa river 288, 289
Bazar valley 309
Bein torrent 45
Bhakkar 258
Bhittannis 294
Bhupindar Singh, Maharaja of
Patiala 275
Bhure Singh, Raja of Chamba
286
Bias river 43-45, 162, 237, 249,
251
railway bridge 45
Bilaspur State 288
Biloches 104, 105, 268, 269
Birmal 24
Black buck 94, 95
Black Mountain Expedition 191
Boltoro glacier 21
368
INDEX
Borax 60
Boundaries 3—6
Brahmans 104, 106, 240
Brijindar Singh, Raja of Faridkot
280
Buddhism 114, 115, 169, 236, 289
Bunhar torrent 254
Burzil pass 12
Canals 132-141, 197
Carving in wood and ivory 154
Castes 105, 106
Chagarzais 302
Chad 29
Chakdarra 305, 306, 356
Chakki torrent 45
Chamba State 245, 246
town 201, 354
Chamberlain, Sir Neville 305
Chamkannis 310, 311
Chandrabhaga river 2, 41, 286
(see also Chenab)
Chandra Gupta 162
Chatar Singh, Sardar 186—187
Chenab river 41, 247, 249, 252, 261,
266, 267
Cherat 31, 355
Chilas 36, 301, 357
Chilian wala 187, 351
Chingiz Khan 170
Chini 44, 288, 354
Chitral 196, 305, 307, 308, 356
Chitral and Dir levies 313
Cholera 101
Chor mountain 285
Chos 241
Christians 119
Chund Bharwana railway bridge
4i
Climate 64—70
Coal 58
Coins 208-211
Colleges 125, 126
Colonization of Canal lands 136,
139, 140, 263
Cooperative Credit Societies 197,
199
Crops 146-150, Tables III-IV
Cultivation 142-150, Tables II— III
Dalhousie, Lord 188
Dalhousie hill station 68, 246,
350
Dalip Singh, Maharaja 184
Dandot 58
Dane, Sir Louis 199
Darbar 1877 193-333
1903 333
Coronation 1911 199, 333, 334
Dards 107, 108
Darius 161
Darwesh Khel 312
Daulat Rao Sindhia 183
Daur valley 312
Davies, Sir Henry 191
Deane, Sir Harold 197
Degh torrent 42, 247
Delhi, 169, 199, 205-208, 224, 225,
325-334
Delhi- Ambala-Kalka Railway 130
Deodar 80, 86, 302, 307
Dera Gopipur 44
Dera Ghazi Khan district 268-270
Dera Ismail Khan district 294, 295
town and cantonment 355
Dharmsala 68, 238, 348
Dhauladhar 16
Dhunds 256
Dir 305-307
Domel 40
Dorah pass 22
Dor river 299, 301
Dost Muhammad, Amir 184
Drishaks 270
Dujana State 283
Dungagali 355
Durand, Colonel 194
Durand, Sir Henry 191
Durand Line 4, 196, 306, 307, 308
Earthquake of 1905 197
Education 119, 121-126
Edwardes, Sir Herbert 186
Edwardesabad 355
Egerton, Sir Robert 191
Ekbhai mountain 27
Ethnology 109, no
Expenditure, Provincial 219-220,
Table V
Exports and Imports 159
Factories 156, 157
Famines 195, 227
Faridkot State 244, 280
Fateh Singh, Sardar of Kapur-
thala 279
Fauna 90—95
Ferozepore district 243—245
railway bridge 46
town and cantonment 349
Ferozeshah, battle of 186, 244, 349
Fever, mortality from 100, 101
INDEX
369
Finance 219-222
Fitzpatrick, Sir Dennis 19.5
Flora 71—85
Fluctuating assessments 221
Forests 86-89
Fort Lockhart 355
Fort Munro 27, 270
Fossils 53, 55-57
Fotula 12
Gaddis 236
Gajpat Singh, Sardar of Jind 276
Game 91—95
Gandamak, treaty of 193
Gandgarh hills 302
Ghagar torrent 46, 47, 227, 231,
233
Ghaibana Sir 31
Ghakkhars 168, 169, 254, 256, 300
Ghaznevide raids 168
Giandari hill 27
Gilgit 194, 321, 323
Giri river 235, 285, 288
Girths 240
Godwin Austen Mt 21
Gold 59, 322
Gonial pass 25, 312
Gough, Lord 187
Govind Singh, Guru 177, 178
Granth Sahib 175
Grey Inundation Canals 244
Gujars 107, 241, 245, 252, 300
Gujranwala district 249
town 350
Gujrat battle 187
district 252
town 351
Gulab Singh, Raja 184, 186, 219,
314, 323
Gulmarg 357
Gupta Empire 164
Gurais 357
Gurchanis 270
Gurdaspur district 245, 246
Gurgaon district 229, 230
Gurkhas 235, 274, 289
Gurus, Sikh 173-178
Hakra river 40
Handicrafts 152-156
Hangu 297
Haramukh mountain 14
Harike ferry 44
Hari Singh Nalwa, Sardar 184
Haro river 38, 2*8 ->09, 301, 302
Harvests 142
D. P.
Hasanzais 303
Hattu mountains, 288
Hazara district 186, 298—303
Himalaya 8-20, 67, 68
Hindkis 299
Hindu Kush 22, 23, 305, 307
Hindur 287
Hindus and Hinduism 11 4-1 18,
119, 120
Hira Singh Sir, Raja of Nabha 278
Hissar district 226-228
town 347
History 160-199
Hiuen Tsang 165
Hoshyarpur district 240, 241, 278
Humayun 172
Hunza town 357
Hunza and Nagar 323
Hunza-Nagar levies 313
war 194, 195
Ibbetson, Sir Denzil 197, 198
Imperial Service troops 276, 277,
279, 283
Income and Expenditure 219, 286,
Table V
Indus river 34-39, 260, 270, 281,
296, 300, 302
Inundation Canals 139, 262, 267
Islamabad 358
Jagatjit Singh, Maharaja of
Kapurthala 279
Jahangir 173, 175, 208
Jains 280
Jalandhar district 241, 242
town and cantonment 349
Jalandhara kingdom 241
Jalkot 36
Jammu State 107, 314-317
town 358
Jamna river 48, 49
Jamna Western Canal 133, 135
Jamrud 356
Janjuas 254
Jassa Singh, Ahluwalia Sardar 279
Jats 103, 104, 234, 240, 242, 245,
248, 249, 252, 254
J hang district 265, 266
Jhelam Canal, Lower 133, 137, 138,
261, 265
Upper 138, 252
Jhelam district 253, 254
river 39, 40, 253, 254, 261,
265, 301
town and cantonment 351
24
37°
INDEX
Jind 271, 276, 277
Joint Stock Companies 157, 158
Jowakis 297, 310
Jubbal State 287
Kabul 22, 165
river, 23, 37, 298
canal 140, 298
Kafiristan range 307
Kagan 40, 301
Kaha torrent 270
Kaisargarh mountain 26
Kalabagh 38, 39, 295
Kalachitta range 30, 258
Kalsia State 280
Kamalia 353
Kambohs 263
Kangra district 235-240
town and fort 168, 171, 183,
349
Kanj litis 108
Kankar 60, 127
Kaoshan pass 22
Kapurthala State 278, 279
town 356
Karakoram 20, 324
Karnal district 230-232
town 348
Kashmir, Early History 165, 166,
172
Forests 89
Population 99, 100, 106, 107
Territories 2, 12, 14, 16, 20,
2i, 193, 314, 324
Kashmiri Pandits 107
Kasranis 270
Katas 201
Kathias 263
Keonthal State 287
Keppel, Sir George Roos 197
Khaibar 23, 309
Rifles 308, 309, 313
Khairimurat hills 30, 258
Khanki weir 195, 310
Khanwah Canal 263
Kharrals 263
Khatris 105, 106
Khattaks 297, 298
Kheora Salt Mine 51, 351
Khojas 106
Khosas 270
Khost 311
Khowar 308
Khurmana river 311
Khushalgarh railway bridge 130
Kila Drosh, 307, 308
Kirana hill 261
Kishnganga river 40, 261, 319
Kohala 40, 257
Kohat district 296-298
salt 57, 58, 296
town and cantonment 356
Kolahoi mountain 14
Kiika rising 192, 193
Kulu 17, 235, 237, 238
Kunar river 23, 37, 307
Kunawar 289
Kunhar 40, 301
Kurram militia 313
river 39, 260, 295, 311
valley 24, 296
Ladakh 64, 65, 109, 112, 319-321
Lagharis 270
Lahore city 169, 173, 334-339
district 251, 252
division 245
railway bridge 43
Lahul 64, 236
Lake, Lord 183
Land Alienation Act, XIII of 1900
196
Land Revenue 220, 221
Landai river 38
Landi Kotal 357
Languages no— 113
Larji 43
Lawrence Memorial School 234
Lawrence, Sir Henry 186, 188
Sir John 188-191
Legislative Council 195, 216
Leh 35, 64, 65, 358
Leprosy 101
Liddar valley 40
Lieutenant Governors 188-199
Local Self Government 195, 217,
218
Lohars 106, 152
Loharu State 283
Lolab valley 40
Lowari pass 307, 308
Lower Bari Doab Canal 138, 262,
267
Chenab Canal 136, 137, 195,
263, 265
Jhelam Canal 137, 138, 197,
260
Swat Canal 140, 141, 298
Ludhiana district 242, 243
town 153, 349
Lulusar lake 301
Lunds 270
INDEX
37i
Luri bridge 45
Lyall, Sir James 194
Lyallpur district 203,
town 353
>64
Macleod, Sir Donald 191
Mahaban mountain 36
Mahirakula 164
Mahmiid of Ghazni 168
Mahsud Wazirs 196, 312
Malakand pass 299, 305, 306,
357
Malerkotla State 283
town 354
Mali ka parvat 301
Malka 305
Mallagoris 308, 309
Mamdot 244
Mamunds 306
Manali 43, 237
Mandi State 283, 284
town 354
Mangal 287
Mansehra 356
Mardan 298, 299
Markanda torrent 47
Martand temple 166, 358
Marwats 296
Mazaris 270
Mazhbis 106
Meghs 107
Menander 163, 164
Mendicants 106
Meos 229
Metals 59
Mianwali district 258-260
Miram Shah 357
Miranzai 297
Moghal Empire 1 71-180
Mohmands 308, 309
Mongol invasions 170
Montgomery, Sir Robert 191
Montgomery district 261, 262
town 353
Mudki battle field 186, 282
Muhammad Ghori 169
Muhammad Tughlak 170, 171
Muhammadan Architecture 204-
208
Muhammadan States, 280-283
Muhammadans 118, 119, 252, 262,
291
Muin ul Mulk 179
Mulraj, Diwan 186-282
Multan district 266, 267
division 262
Multan city 154, 166, 183, 186,
34°. 34i
district 266—267
division 262
Municipalities 217
Murree 68, 256, 303, 351, 352
Musa ka Musalla mountain 301
Musallis 106
Mutiny of 1857 227
Muzaffargarh district 267, 268
Nabha State 271, 277, 278
town 354
Nadir Shah 178
Nahan State 285
town 354
Nalagarh State 207
Nanga parvat (mountain) 12
Naraina, battlefield of 232
Nardak 232
Nathiagali 356
Naushahra 298, 356
North West Frontier Province
197, 291-313
North Western Railway 129-
131
Nun and Kun peaks 12, 324
Occupations 101, 102, 105, 106,
152-156
O'Dwyer, Sir Michael 199
Ohind 37
Orakzais 196, 297, 309-311
Otu weir 47
Pabar river 288
Pabbi hills 252
Paharpur canal 292
Paiwar Kotal 24
Pakhli plain 302
Pakpattan 353
Palosi 36
Pangi 14, 286
Panipat 172, 179, 232, 348
Panjkora river 38, 306, 307
Panjnad river 41, 382
Parachas 106
Parachinar 311, 357
Pataudi State 283
Pathans 105. 260, 294, 299, 300,
304. 311
Patiala State 180, 271-274
town 354
1 '.it tan Munara 354
Payech, see Payer
Payer 201, 358
372
INDEX
Peshawar city 160, 164, 169, 184,
341- 342
district 298, 299
Petroleum 59
Phillaur 46, 243
Phulkian States 196, 271-278
Pihowa 232, 348
Pirghal mountain 24
Piti. See Spiti
Plague 97-99, 100, 195, 245
Population 96—113
Pottery 152, 156
Powindahs 25
Pressure, barometric 65-67
Punch 358
Railways 1 28-1 31
Rajput Hill Chiefs (Simla) 288
Rajputs 104, 240, 241, 245, 248,
254, 288-
Raldang mountain 288
Rampur 45, 289
Ranbir Singh, Maharaja of Jind 277
Ranjit Singh, Maharaja 181— 184
Ravi river 41-43, 247, 251, 262,
266, 267, 286
Rawalpindi cantonment and town
256, 352
district 255-257
division 252
Religions, Kashmir 114
N.W.F. Province 114
Pan jab 11 4-1 17
Ripon, Lord 195
Ripudaman Singh, Maharaja of
Nabha 270
Rivaz, Sir Charles 197
Rivers 32-49
Road, Grand Trunk 127
Roads 127, 128
Rogi cliffs 45
Rohtak district 228, 229
Roos-Keppel, Sir George 197
Rotang pass 14, 236
Rupar 46, 348
Sabaktagin 167, 168
Sadik Muhammad Khan, Nawab
of Bahawalpur 281, 282
Sad Istragh mountains 22
Safarmulk lake 301
Safed Koh range 24, 311
Saiyyids 105, 304
Sakesar, 29, 352
Sakki stream 250
Salt 57, 58
Salt Range 29, 30, 253, 254, 257,
258, 262
Geology of 51-53
Flora of 76, 77
Samana range 297
Rifles 297, 298
Sam Ranizai 306
Sangrur 276, 354
Sansar Chand, Raja 183
Sapphires 60
Saraj 235, 237
Sarusti torrent 46, 47, 231, 232
canal 47
Sasserla 20
Sattis 256
Shah Alam, Emperor 181
Shahjahan 173
Shah Shuja 184
Shahpur district 260-262
Shawal 24
Shekhbudin 31, 356
Shekhs 105
Sher Khan 170
Sher Singh Maharaja 184
Shigri glacier 236
Shipki pass 45
Shooting 94, 95
Shuidar mountain 24
Shyok river 36
Sialkot district 247
town and cantonment 164, 350
Sials 266
Sidhnai canal 139, 267
Sikandar Lodi 171
Sikaram mountain 24
Sikh Jats 104, 250, 252, 276, 280
wars 186, 187
religion 117, 118
Sil torrent 258
Simla district 254
hill station 67, 68, 342-344
Hill States 287-290
Sind valley 40
Sirhind canal 135, 136, 195, 227,
245, 271, 275, 276, 280
Sirhind, town 177, 180, 354, 355
Sirmur State 285
Siwaliks 27, 52, 53
Skardo 36, 321
Smallpox 101
Soan torrent (Hoshyarpur) 241
(Rawalpindi), see Sohan
Sobraon, battle of 186
Sohag Para Canals 262
Sohan torrent 38, 253, 256
Southern Panjab Railway 130
INDEX
373
Spiti 55, 235, 236
river 4.5, 288
Stiipas 202
Siids 106
Suliman range 26, 27, 270, 290
Sultanpur (Kulu) 238
Sultanpur (Kapiirthala) 278
Sunars 106
Surindar Bikram Parkash, late
Raja of Sirmiir 285, 286
Sutlej inundation canals 267
river 45, 46, 245, 262, 266,
281, 288
Takht i Suliman mountain 26
'hill (Kashmir) 318
Tamerlane. See Timur
Tanawal 302, 303
Tanawal hills 302
Tarkanris 307
Tarkhans (carpenters) 106, 152
Teri 296
Thakkars 107
Thai desert 149, 259-261, 262, 265,
267
Thai (Kohat) 297, 311, 356
Thandiani 356
Thanesar 165, 168, 232, 348
Tilla hill 29
Timur (Tamerlane) 171
Tirach Mir mountain 22, 308
Tirah Campaign 176
Tiwanas 260
Tochi valley 24, 296
Tons, river 48
Torrents, action of 47, 48
Trade 159
Traders 105, 106
Tribal militias 312
Triple Canal Project 138, 197
Tiimans Biloch 270
Turis 311
Uch 355
Uchiri range 307
Udyana 304
Ujh torrent 42
Umra Khan 196
Unhar river 302
University, Panjab 125, 126
Upper Bari Doab Canal 135, 191,
247, 249, 251
Chenab Canal 138, 139, 249
Jhelam Canal 138, 139, 252
Swat Canal 141, 298
Utman Khel 306
Vaccination 101
Wana 24, 196, 312, 357
Wattus 263
Waziristan 312
hills 24
militias 313
Wazirs Darwesh Khel 312
Madsud 312
Weavers 102, 152, 154
Wellesley, Marquis of 182
Arthur 183
Wells 143, 144
Western Jamna Canal 135, 227,
232, 273, 276
Wular lake 40
Yakiib Khan, Amir 194
Yarkhun river 305, 307
Yasin river 307
Young, Sir Mackworth 195
Yusafzais 299, 304, 305, 306
Zaimukhts 310
Zakaria Khan 178
Zakha Khel 309
Zamzama gun 187
Zanskar 320
Himalaya 10, 286
river 36
Zojila 12
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