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CUTCH, or KACH
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See also:CUTCH, or KACH , a native See also:state of See also:India within the See also:Gujarat See also:division of Bombay, with an See also:area of 7616 sq. m. It is a See also:peninsular See also:tract of See also:land, enclosed towards the W. by the eastern See also:branch of the See also:Indus, on the S. by the See also:Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Cutch, and on the N. and E. towards the interior, by the See also:great See also:northern Runn, a See also:salt morass or See also:lake. The interior of Cutch is studded with hills of considerable See also:elevation, and a range of mountains runs through it from See also:east to See also:west, many of them of the most fantastic shapes, with large isolated masses of See also:rock scattered in all directions. The See also:general See also:appearance of Cutch is barren and uninteresting. The greater See also:part is a rock destitute of See also:soil, and presenting the wildest aspect; the ground is See also:cold, poor and sterile; and the whole See also:face of the See also:country bears marks of volcanic See also:action. From the violence of tyranny, and the rapine of a disorderly banditti, by which this See also:district See also:long suffered, as well as from shocks of earthquakes, the villages have a ruinous and dilapidated appearance; and, with the exception of a few See also:fields in their neighbourhood, the country presents a rocky and sandy See also:waste, with in many places scarcely a show of vegetation. See also:Water is scarce and brackish, and is chiefly found at the bottom of See also:low ranges of hills, which abound in some parts; and the inhabitants of the extensive sandy tracts suffer greatly from the want of it. Owing to the uncertainty of the periodical rains in Cutch, the country is liable to severe famines, and it has suffered greatly from See also:plague.
The temperature of Cutch during the hot See also:season is high, the thermometer frequently rising to See also:roe or 105° F.; and in the months of See also:April and May clouds of dust and See also:sand, blown about by hurricanes, envelop the houses, the See also:glass windows scarcely affording any See also:protection. The See also:influence of the See also:monsoon is greatly moderated before it reaches this region, and the rains sometimes fail altogether. See also:Bhuj, the See also:capital of the state, is situated inland, and is surrounded by an See also:amphitheatre of hills, some of which approach within 3 or 4 M. of the See also:city. The See also: The residency is 4 M. distant in a See also:westerly direction. There are many See also:mountain streams, but no navigable See also:rivers. They contain scarcely any water except in the See also:rainy season, when they are very full and rapid, and See also:discharge themselves into the Rurm, all along the See also:coast of which the See also:wells and springs are more or less impregnated with See also:common salt and other saline ingredients. Various causes have contributed to thin the See also:population of this country. In r813 it was ravaged by a See also:famine and pestilence, which destroyed a great proportion of its inhabitants,—according to some accounts, nearly one-See also:half. This, joined to the tyranny and violence of the See also:government until the See also:year 1819, and subsequently to a See also:succession of unfavourable seasons, forced many of the, cultivators to remove to See also:Sind and other countries. The inhabitants numbered 488,022 in 1901, being a decrease of 13% during the See also:decade, due to the famines of 1899-1900. One-third are Mahommedans and the See also:remainder See also:Hindus of various castes. The Jareja Rajputs See also:form a particular class, being the See also:aristocracy of the country; and all are more or less connected with the See also:family of the See also:rao or See also:prince. There are in Cutch about 200 of these Jareja chiefs, who all claim their descent from a prince who reigned in Sind about r000 years ago. From him also the reigning See also:sovereign is lineally descended, and he is the See also:liege See also:lord of whom all the chiefs or nobles hold their lands in See also:feu, for services which they or their ancestors had performed, or in virtue of their relationship to the family. They are all termed the brotherhood of the rao or Bhayad, and supposed to be his hereditary advisers, and their possessions are divided among their male See also:children. To prevent the breaking down of their properties, the necessary consequence of this See also:law of See also:inheritance, there is no doubt that See also:infanticide was common among them, and that it extended to the male as well as the See also:female progeny, but it has been put down by the Infanticide Rules, which provide for the See also:registration of Jareja children. The Jarejas have a tradition that when they entered Cutch they were Mahommedans, but that they after-See also: The country of Cutch was invaded about the 13th See also:century by a .See also:body of Mahommedans of the Summa tribe, who under the guidance of five See also:brothers emigrated from Sind, and who gradually subdued or expelled the See also:original inhabitants, consisting of three distinct races. Cutch continued tranquil under their sway for many years, until some family See also:quarrel arose, in which the See also:chief of an See also:elder branch of the tribe was murdered by a See also:rival See also:brother. His son Khengayi fled to See also:Ahmedabad to seek the assistance of the See also:viceroy, who reinstated him in the See also:sovereignty of Cutch, and See also:Morvi in See also:Kathiawar, and in the See also:title of rao, about the year 1540. The succession continued in the same See also:line from the See also:time of this prince until 1697, when a younger brother, Pragji, murdered his elder brother and usurped the sovereignty. This line of princes continued till 1.76o without any remarkable event, when, in the reign of Rao Ghodji, the country was invaded four times by the Sinds, who wasted it with See also:fire and See also:sword. The reign of this prince, as well as that of his son Rao Rayadan, by whom he was succeeded in 1778, was marked by See also:cruelty and See also:blood. The latter prince was dethroned, and, being in a state of See also:mental derangement, was during his lifetime confined by Fateh Mahommed, a native of Sind, who continued, with a See also:short See also:interval (in which the party of the legal See also:heir, Bhaiji Bawa, gained the ascendancy), to See also:rule the country until his See also:death in 1813. It was in the reign of Fateh Mahommed that a communication first took See also:place with the See also:British government. During the contests for the sovereignty between the usurper and the legal heir, the See also:leader of the royal party, Hansraj, the See also:governor of Mandvi, sought the aid of the British. But no closer connexion followed at that time than an agreement for. the suppression of piracy, or of inroads of troops to the eastward of the Runn or Gulf of Cutch. But the gulf continued notwithstanding to swarm with pirates, who were openly encouraged or connived at by the son of Hansraj, who had succeeded his See also:father, as well as by Fateh Mahommed. The latter See also:left several sons by different wives, who were competitors for the vacant See also:throne. Husain Miyan succeeded to a considerable portion of his father's See also:property and See also:power. Jugjevan, a See also:Brahman, the See also:late See also:minister of Fateh Mahommed, also received a considerable See also:share of influence; and the hatred of these two factions was embittered by religious animosities, the one being Hindu and the other Mahommedan. The deceased rao had declared himself a Mahommedan, and his adherents were preparing to inter his body in a magnificent tomb, when the Jarejas and other Hindus seized the See also:corpse and consigned it to the flames, according to Hindu See also:custom. The See also:administration of affairs was nominally in the hands of Husain Miyan and his brother See also:Ibrahim Miyan. Many sanguinary broils now ensued, in the course of which Jugjevan was murdered, and the executive authority was much weakened by the usurpations of the See also:Arabs and other chiefs. In the meantime Ibrahim Miyan was assassinated; and after various other scenes of anarchy, the rao Bharmulji, son of Rao Rayadan, by general consent, assumed the chief power. But his reign was one continued See also:series of the grossest enormities; his hostility to the British became evident, and accordingly a force of 10,500 men crossed the Runn in See also:November 1815, and were within five See also:miles of Bhuj, the capital of the country, when a treaty was concluded, by which the rao Bharmulji was confirmed in his title to the throne, on agreeing, among other stipulations, to cede See also:Anjar and its dependencies in See also:perpetuity to the British. He was, however, so• far from fulfilling the terms of this treaty that it was determined to depose him; and an See also:army being sent against him, he surrendered to the British, who made a See also:provision for his See also:maintenance, and elevated his See also:infant son Desalji II. to the throne (1819). In 1822 the relations subsisting between the ruler of Cutch and the British were modified by a new treaty, under which the territorial cessions made by the rao in 1816 were restored in See also:consideration of an See also:annual See also:payment. The sum fixed was subsequently thought too large, and in 1832 the arrears, amounting to a considerable sum, were remitted, and all future payments on this See also:account relinquished. From that time the rao has paid a See also:subsidy of D13,000 per annum to the British for the maintenance of the military force stationed within his dominions. Rao Desalji II. did much to suppress infanticide, See also:suttee and the slave See also:trade in his state. His successor Maharao Pragmalji in recognition of his excellent administration was in 1871 honoured with the title of See also:knight See also:grand See also:commander of the See also:Star of India. During his rule See also:harbour See also:works were built at Mandvi, an immense See also:reservoir for See also:rain water in the Chadwa hills was constructed, and many See also:schools and colleges were endowed. In 1876 he was succeeded by Maharaja Rao Khengarji III., who was also a keen See also:advocate for See also:education and especially the education of women. He founded museums, See also:libraries and schools, and inaugurated scholarships and a fund from which deserving scholars desirous of studying in See also:England and See also:America could obtain their expenses. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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