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BIRBHUM

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 958 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BIRBHUM , a See also:

district of See also:British See also:India in the B,urdwan See also:division of See also:Bengal, situated in the Gangetic See also:plain and partly on the hills, being bounded on the See also:south by the See also:river Ajai. The administrative headquarters are at Suri, which is the only See also:town in the district. The See also:area comprises 1752 sq. m. The eastern portion of the district is the See also:ordinary alluvial plain of the Gangetic See also:delta; the western See also:part consists of undulating beds of See also:laterite resting on a See also:rock basis, and covered with small scrub See also:jungle. The Ajai, Bakheswar and Mor or Maurakshi, are the See also:principal See also:rivers of the district, but they are merely See also:hill streams and only navigable in the rains. In 1901 the See also:population was 902,280, showing an increase of 13% in the See also:decade. The principal See also:industry is the See also:spinning and See also:weaving of See also:silk, chiefly from tussur or jungle silk-See also:worms. There are also several See also:lac factories. The See also:loop-See also:line of the See also:East See also:Indian railway runs through the district, with a junction at Nalhati for See also:Murshidabad. See also:History.—Birbhum in the See also:early part of the 13th See also:century was a See also:Hindu See also:state, with its See also:capital at Rajnagar or See also:Nagar. In the course of the century it was conquered by the Pathans and formed part of the See also:Pathan See also:kingdom of Bengal. At the beginning of the 18th century it appears as a See also:kind of military See also:fief held under the See also:nawab of Murshidabad by one Asadullah Pathan, whose See also:family had probably been its chieftains since the fall of the Pathan See also:dynasty of Bengal in 1600.

It passed into British See also:

possession in 1765, but the East India See also:Company did not assume its See also:direct See also:government until 1787, when that course became necessary. In the See also:interval it had been a See also:prey to armed bands from the See also:highlands of See also:Chota See also:Nagpur, with whom the See also:raja was unable to See also:cope, and who practically brought the See also:trade of the Company in the district to a standstill. The two border principalities of Birbhum and See also:Bankura were accordingly See also:united into a district under a British See also:collector, being, however, separated again in 1793. By 1789, after considerable trouble, the marauders were driven back into their mountains, and since that See also:time (except during the See also:Santal rising of 1855) the district has been one of the most peaceful and prosperous in India. See Imperial Gazetteer of India (See also:Oxford, 1908), vol. viii. s.v.

End of Article: BIRBHUM

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