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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNI

AT LOS angele:

THE[MPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA

THE INDIAN EMPIREVOL.I

DESCRIPTIVE

NEW

EDITION

PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF HIS MAJESTY'S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA IN COUNCIL

OXFORDAT THE CLARENDON PRESS1909

HENRY FROWDE,LONDON, EDINBURGH,

M.A.

PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

NEW YORK

TORONTO AND MELBOURNE

m 405"

TO HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY

KING EDWARDTHIS

VII

EMPEROR OF INDIA

WORK

IS

BY HIS ROYAL PERMISSION

DEDICATED

X)477^

GENERAL PREFACEThefirst

edition of TJie Imperial Gazetteer of India

\\-as

published

in

nine volumesfourteen

in

1881.

A

second

edition,

augmented1885-7.

to

volumes, was issued in the yearsarticle

A

revised

form of the

on India, greatlyof

enlarged and with statistics brought up to date, appeared as

an independent volume

in 1893,

under the

title

'

The

Indian

Empire

:

Its Peoples, History,

and Products.'

All of these

were edited by the

late Sir

William Wilson Hunter, K.C.S.I.,of the work as far back as 1869,

who formed the original plan when he was first entrustedstatistical

with the duty of organizing a

survey of the country, andin its final

who wrote most

of

'

TheHis

Indian Empire'

form with his own hand.

untimely death in 1900 has deprived the present edition ofthe advantages of his ripe experience and literaryskill.

The secondprint,it

edition having for

was resolved

some time passed out of by the Government of India that a newhave been introduced,

edition should be prepared in connexion with the Census of

1901.

The

changes, however, that

bothtion,

in the general

scheme and

in the

methods of compila-

may

justify its being considered as a

new work

rather

than a new edition.

The bulk

will

be raised from fourteen to;

twenty-six volumes, including a companion Atlassingle

and theHis-

volume of'

'

The Indian Empire'

'

has been expanded'

into four volumes, entitled respectivelytorical,'

Descriptive,'

'

Economic,' and

Administrative.'

Moreover, while

the main work will be arranged as before in alphabeticalorder,it is

intended to issue in India, for

official

and

local use,

a parallel series in which the several articles relating to each

Province or large group of States will be collected together in

vi

GENERAL PREFACENoless

separate volumes.

considerable are the changes that

Apart from the in methods of compilation. volume and a few other chapters of The Indian Empire,' the whole of the work has been written by ofhcials and every in India under orders of the Indian Governmenthave been madeHistorical' ;

page has been submitted to the

criticism

of the

several

Administrations or Departments concerned.

Theup

task of editorial supervision has been shared between

India and England.in consultation

In India the

first

outlines were

drawn

with Sir Herbert Risley, K.C.I.E., at the

time when he was Census Commissioner.tion to be

On;

his

nomina-

Secretary

in the

Home

Department, Mr.

W.

S.

Meyer, CLE., was appointed editor for India and to him are due the detailed regulations under which the greater part ofthe work has been executed, the general scheme of the Atlas,

and the primary revision of most of the chapters dealing with India as a whole. When he, in turn, was promoted to beSecretaryin

the Finance Department, he was succeeded

by

Mr, R. Burn, who has carried out the primary revision of

most of the other volumes, and otherwise completed the work The editor in England that had to be done in India.^throughout has been Mr.associated with SirJ.

S.

Cotton,in

who was

closely

W. W. Hunter

both the former editions.

On

him, in subordination to a committee appointed

by thefinal

Secretary of State, has rested the responsibility for the

form of the work, and the duty of seeing the whole throughthe press.

The volumesperiod,

of

'The Indian Empire' have been

entirely

rewritten, with the exception of the history of the British

where the personal impress of Siris

W. W.

Hunter's

knowledge and style

preserved.

The

principle adopted

waswith

to entrust each subject toit

an author best qualified to deal

either

by

special study or official experience.

The;

namesbut'

of the authors are usually

appended

to their chapters

in

other cases the text, as finally approved, can beeditors desire to acknowledge specially the services of Mr. V.

The Indian

Krishna Menon, their head clerk.

GENERAL PREFACEtheir contributions,

vii

regarded only as a composite production based largely upon

and their names are then recorded

else-

where.

This course has been found necessaryofficial

in order

to

maintain the character ofthe work.

authority that attaches to

The

articles that

make up the body

of the Gazetteer haveofficials

likewise been rewritten, for the

most part by

who hadnames

already acquired local experience as Census Superintendentsof their Provinces or States in 1901.will

Aand

list

of their

be found prefixed to the

first

volume of the Gazetteerofficials

proper.

As

in the

previous editions, the articles are based on

materials collectedStates,

by

District officers

of Native

supplemented by special contributions from experts.

More

detailed

acknowledgements

will

be found

in the prefaces It

to the volumes of the Provincial Gazetteers.

may

here be

mentioned

that, since

the last edition was compiled,

Upper

Burma andmuch more

Baluchistan have both been included within the

Empire, and two new Provinces have been constituted, whileaccurate informationis

now

available for

the

Native States generally.

To comein

to details.

Comparative

statistics

are usually;

given for the three Census years, 1881, 1891, and 1901

but

most cases

later figures for

1903-4 have been added.

The

most recent administrative changes have been incorporated orreferred to in footnotes, so far as possible.

No

novelties have

been introduced

in

the

way

of

spelling,

the usage

now

generally adopted in India having been followed, even wherethis

usage cannot be considered satisfactory or consistent.is

The only important changelength (~) for the accent(')

the substitution of the

mark ofhints for

over long vowels.

Some

guidance

in

pronunciation are given in an Introductory Note,

prefixed to each volume.

Another Introductory Note supplieshas not been found practic-

a brief explanation of the monetary system and the weights

and measures used

in Indiaj for

it

able to convert these uniformly into their

Enghsh

equivalents.

In the present volume, being the Descriptive volume of

'The Indian Empire,' chapters

i,

ii,

iv, v, vii, viii,

ix,

and x

viii

GENERAL PREFACEthem.Dr. Blanford died before he was able to revise his

have been written by the authors whose names are subscribedto

proofs.

Of the other

chapters, that on MeteorologyEliot,

is

based

upon materials contributed by Sir John and that on Ethnology and Caste hasfrom Sir H. Risley's chapterof India for 1901.in

K.C.I.E.,

been

abridged

the Report on the Census

The Index has been compiled by

Mr.

J.

W.

Browne.

'

INTRODUCTORY NOTESNotes on TransliterationVowel- Soundsa has the sound of a in a has the sound of a in'

woman.'father.''

'

e has the vowel-sound ini

grey.'

has the sound of

i in

*

pin.'

i

has the sound of

/ in