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BETUL

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 833 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BETUL , a See also:

town and See also:district of See also:British See also:India, in the See also:Nerbudda See also:division of the Central Provinces. In 1901 the See also:population of the town was 4739. The administrative headquarters of the district have been transferred to the town of See also:Badnur (q.v.), 3 M. See also:north. The district of BETUL has an See also:area of 3826 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 285,363, showing a decrease of 12 % in the See also:decade, due to the results of See also:famine. The mean See also:elevation above the See also:sea is about 2000 ft. The See also:country is essentially a highland See also:tract, divided naturally into three distinct portions, differing in their superficial aspects, the See also:character of their See also:soil and their See also:geological formation. The See also:northern See also:part of the district forms an irregular See also:plain of the See also:sandstone formation. It is a well-wooded tract, in many places stretching out in charming glades like an See also:English See also:park, but it has a very sparse population and little cultivated See also:land. In the extreme north a See also:line of hills rises abruptly out of the See also:great plain of the Nerbudda valley. The central tract alone possesses a See also:rich soil, well watered by the Machna and Sampna See also:rivers, almost entirely cultivated and studded with villages. To the See also:south lies a See also:rolling See also:plateau of basaltic formation (with the sacred town of Multai, and the springs of the See also:river See also:Tapti at its highest point), extending over the whole of the See also:southern See also:face of the district, and finally merging into the See also:wild and broken line of the See also:Ghats, which See also:lead down to the plains.

This tract consists of a See also:

succession of stony ridges of See also:trap See also:rock, enclosing valleys or basins of fertile soil, to which cultivation is for the most part confined, except where the shallow soil on the tops of the hills has been turned to See also:account. The See also:principal crops are See also:wheat, See also:millet, other See also:food-grains, See also:pulse, oil-seeds, and a little See also:sugar-See also:cane and See also:cotton. A large part of the area is covered with forests, which yield See also:teak and other See also:timber. The only manufacture is cotton See also:cloth. A railway is projected from Itarsi through the district to See also:Berar. See also:Good roads are few; and none of the rivers is navigable. This district suffered very severely from the famine of 1896—1897, in 1897 the See also:death-See also:rate being as high as 73 per moo. It suffered again in 'goo, when in May the number of persons relieved ose to one-third of the See also:total population. Little is known of the See also:early See also:history of the district except that it must have been the centre of the first of the four See also:ancient Gond kingdoms of Kherla, See also:Deogarh, See also:Mandla and See also:Chanda. According to See also:Ferishta, the See also:Persian historian, these kingdoms engrossed in 1398 all the hills of See also:Gondwana and adjacent countries, and were of great See also:wealth and See also:power. About the See also:year 1418 See also:Sultan Husain Shah of See also:Malwa invaded Kherla, and reduced it to a dependency. Nine years later the See also:raja rebelled, but although with the help of the Bahmani See also:kings of the See also:Deccan he managed for a See also:time to assert his See also:independence, he was finally subdued and deprived of his territories.

In 1467 Kherla was seized by the Bahmani See also:

king, but was afterwards restored to Malwa. A See also:century later the See also:kingdom of Malwa became incorporated into the dominions of the See also:emperor of See also:Delhi. In 1703 a Mussulman convert of the Gond tribe held the country, and in 1743 Raghoji Bhonsla, the Mahratta ruler of Berar, annexed it to his dominions. The See also:Mahrattas in the year 1818 ceded this district to the See also:East India See also:Company as See also:payment for a contingent, and by the treaty of 1826 it was formally incorporated with the British possessions. The See also:climate of Betul is fairly healthy. Its height above the plains and the neighbourhood of extensive forests moderate the See also:heat, and render the temperature pleasant throughout the greater part of the year. During the See also:cold See also:season the thermometer at See also:night falls below the freezing point; little or no hot See also:wind is See also:felt before the end of See also:April, and even then it ceases after sunset. The nights in the hot season are comparatively cool and pleasant. During the See also:monsoon the climate is very See also:damp, and at times even cold and raw, thick clouds and mist enveloping the See also:sky for many days together. The See also:average See also:annual rainfall is 4o in. In the denser jungles See also:malaria prevails for months after the cessation of the rains, but the Gonds do not appear to suffer much from its effects. Travellers and strangers who venture into these jungles run the See also:risk of See also:fever of a severe type at almost all seasons of the year.

End of Article: BETUL

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