Buxar Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Buxar Town
{Baksar). — Head-quarters of the subdivision of the same name in Shahabad District, Bengal, situated in 25° 34' N. and 83° 58' E., on the south bank of the Ganges. Population (1901), 13,945. Buxar is a station on the East Indian Railway, 41 1 miles from Calcutta, and is a considerable centre of trade. It is famous as the scene of the defeat in 1764 by Sir Hector Munro of Mir Kasim, in the battle which finally won the Lower Provinces of Bengal for the British. It is a place of great sanctity, and is said to have been originally called Vedagarbha, ' the womb of the Vedas,' as many of the inspired writers of the Vedic hymns lived here. Buxar was constituted a municipality in 1869. The income during the decade ending 190 1-2 averaged Rs. 8,400, and the expenditure Rs. 7,700. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 9,500, mainly derived from a tax on persons (or property tax) : and the expenditure was Rs. 1 2,000.
Buxar contains the usual public buildings, and also a Central jail with accommodation for 1,391 prisoners. The chief jail industry is the manufacture of tents, of which 2,705 were supplied to Government departments in 1903 ; cloth-weaving and the manufacture of prison clothing and uniforms for the police and chauklddrs, as well as for the Opium and Jail departments, are also extensively carried on. A subsidiary jail has accommodation for 61 prisoners.
