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RAJSHAHI

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 867 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RAJSHAHI , a See also:

district and See also:division of See also:British See also:India, in the See also:province of Eastern See also:Bengal and See also:Assam. The administrative headquarters are at See also:Rampur Boalia. The See also:area of the district is 2593 sq. m., comprising an alluvial See also:plain seamed with old See also:river-beds and studded with marshes. The See also:Ganges and the Mahananda are its See also:principal See also:rivers; the former constitutes a See also:great natural boundary-See also:line to the See also:south and south-See also:west, and the latter, which rises in the Himalayas, See also:borders the district on the west for a few See also:miles before joining the Ganges. Otherrivers are the Narad and Baral, important offshoots of the Ganges; the Atrai, a channel of the See also:Tista; and the Jamuna, a tributary of the Atrai. Both the Atrai and the Jamuna belong to the See also:Brahmaputra See also:system and are navigable throughout the See also:year for small See also:cargo boats. The drainage of Rajshahi is not carried off by means of its rivers, but through the chains of marshes and swamps, the most important of which is the Chalan bhil or See also:lake, which discharges itself into the Brahmaputra. In 1901 the See also:population was 1,462,407, showing an increase of 1.6% in the See also:decade. See also:Rice is the See also:staple See also:crop, with pulses, oilseeds and jute. See also:Indigo has disappeared. Sericulture has received a stimulus from the efforts of the agricultural See also:department, supported by private enterprise, to improve the breed of silkworms. The See also:hemp grown on a small See also:tract in the See also:north of the district supplies all the ganja that is consumed in Bengal.

The district is traversed from south to north by the See also:

main line of the Eastern Bengal railway to See also:Darjeeling, with a See also:branch to See also:Bogra. Most of the permanent buildings in the district were severely damaged by the See also:earthquake of the 12th of See also:June 1897, When the See also:East India See also:Company took over the See also:administration of Bengal in 1765, the zamindari of Rajshahi or Nattor was one of the largest and most important in the province. It appears to have extended from See also:Bhagalpur on the west to See also:Dacca on the east, and to have included an important subdivision called Nij-Chakla Rajshahi on the south of the Ganges. The See also:total area was estimated at 13,000 sq. m., or more than five times the See also:size of the See also:present district. Having been found much too large to be effectually administered by one central authority, Rajshahi was stripped in 1793 of a considerable portion of its outlying territory, and a natural. boundary-line was See also:drawn to the west, south and east along the Ganges and Brahmaputra. Its north-western limits were reduced in 18x3, when the present district of See also:Malda was constituted. The erection of Bogra into a See also:separate See also:jurisdiction in 1821 still further reduced its area, and in 1832 the limits of Rajshahi were fixed by the constitution of See also:Pabna into an See also:independent jurisdiction. The DIVISION OF RAJSHAHI is coextensive with See also:northern Bengal, from the Ganges to the mountains. It comprises the seven districts of Rajshahi, See also:Dinajpur, See also:Jalpaiguri, Malda, See also:Rangpur, Bogra and Pabna. Total area, 18,091 sq. m. Pop. (1901) 9,130,072.

End of Article: RAJSHAHI

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