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RAJMAHAL

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 865 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RAJMAHAL , a former See also:

capital of See also:Bengal, See also:India, now a See also:village in the See also:district of the See also:Santal Parganas, situated on the right See also:bank of the See also:Ganges, where that See also:river makes a turn to the See also:south. Pop. (1901) 2047. It was chosen for his See also:residence by See also:Man Singh, See also:Akbar's See also:Rajput See also:general in 1592, but the capital of the See also:province was shortly afterwards transferred to See also:Dacca. It contains many palaces and mosques, now in ruins and over-grown with See also:jungle. It has a station on the See also:loop See also:line of the See also:East See also:Indian railway, but See also:trade has declined since the Ganges abandoned its old See also:bed; and Sahibganj has taken its See also:place. Rajmahal has given its name to a range of hills, almost the only hills in xxn. 28Bengal proper, which here come down See also:close to the bank of the Ganges. They See also:cover a See also:total See also:area of 1366 sq. m., and their height never exceeds 2000 ft. They are inhabited by an aboriginal See also:race, known as Paharias or "See also:hill-men," of whom two tribes may be distinguished: the Male Sauria Paharias and the Mal Paharias; total pop. (1901) 73,000. The former, if not the latter also, are closely akin to the larger tribe of See also:Oraons.

Their See also:

language, known as Malto, of the See also:Dravidian See also:family, was spoken by 60,777 persons in 19or. The Paharias have contributed an See also:element to the administrative See also:history of Bengal. See also:Augustus Clevland, a civilian who died in 1784 and whose name is still honoured, was the first who succeeded in winning their confidence and recruiting among them a See also:corps of hill-rangers. The methods that he adopted are the See also:foundation of the " non-regulation " See also:system, established in 1796; and the hills were exempted from the permanent See also:settlement. The See also:Santals, a different aboriginal race, have since immigrated in large See also:numbers into the Daman-i-koh, or " skirts of the hills "; but the Paharias alone occupy the plateaux on the See also:top, where they are permitted to practise the See also:privilege of shifting cultivation, which renders scientific forestry impossible. The approach from the plains below to each See also:plateau is guarded by a steep See also:ladder of boulders. See E. W. See also:Dalton, Descriptive See also:Ethnology of Bengal (See also:Calcutta, 1872) ; F. B. See also:Bradley-Birt, The See also:Story of an Indian Upland (1905).

End of Article: RAJMAHAL

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