Hooghly District , 1908
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.
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Hooghly District
{Hugli). — South-eastern District of the Burdwan Division, Bengal, lying between 22° 36 and 23° 14' N. and 87° 30' and 88° 30' E. Excluding the separate District of Howrah, which for revenue purposes still forms part of Hooghly, it has an area of 1,191 square miles. It is bounded on the north by the District of Burdwan ; on the east by the Hooghly river ; on the south by the District of Howrah ; and on the west by the Districts of Midnapore, Bankura, and Burdwan.
Physical aspects
The high bank of the Hooghly river is densely populated and lined by gardens and orchards, interspersed with villages, temples, and fac- tories ; but between it and the bank of the Damodar ysica extends a swampy waterlogged tract, which gradually rises towards the north-west. The principal rivers are the Hooghly, Damodar, and Rupnarayan. The Hooghly nowhere crosses the boundary, and the Rupnarayan (here called the Dwarkeswar) flows only for a few miles across its western angle. The Damodar, which formerly entered the Hooghly about 39 miles above Calcutta, now flows almost due south across Hooghly and Howrah Districts, joining the Hooghly opposite Falta.
The result is a partial obstruction to the current of the latter river, and a consequent deposit of silt which forms the dangerous James and Mary Sands. As in other deltaic Districts, the silt carried by the rivers is deposited in the river-beds and on their banks, which are thus gradually raised above the level of the surrounding country. Extensive swamps have in this way been formed between the Hooghly and the Damodar and between the latter river and the Rupnarayan; the most important are the Dankuni, Santi, Khanyan, and Dalki marshes.
The surface is covered by recent alluvial deposits, consisting of sandy clay and sand along the course of the rivers, and fine silt consolidating into clay in the flatter parts of the river plain.
The greater part of the District is flat, with the usual aquatic and marsh weeds of the Bengal rice plain, such as Hydrilla, Val/isneria, Apo)ioi:;eton, Utricularia, and Caesulia. The Goghat thdna, though very little higher, is still sufficiently dry to have many of the species charac- teristic of the western Districts, such as Evolvubis a/sinoides, Tragus raceinosus, Aristida Adscensdonis, Wendlandia exserta, and Gmelina arborea. In the neighbourhood of villages and towns, shrubberies of semi-spontaneous growth and more or less useful species are to be found.
The pipal {Ficus religiosa) and the banyan {Ficus indica), with other species of figs, make up, along with bamboos, plantains {Musa sapientum), jack {Artocarpits iniegnfo/ia), red cotton-tree {Bombax ma/abariaim), mango {Mangifera), Aforinga, and Odhia Wodier, the arborescent part of these thickets, in which are often present the date- palm {Phoenix sylvestris) and toddy-palm {Borassus flabellifer). The District contains no forests.
Tigers are extremely rare, but leopards are found in the north, and wild hog abound in the Hooghly and Pandua thdnas, where they do much damage to the crops.
The climate is damp and moist, but the rainfall is seldom excessive, the normal fall being 57 inches, of which 9-7 inches are received in June, 12 in July, 12-5 in August, and 8-i in vSeptember. The Damodar is peculiarly liable to sudden freshes, and floods were formerly common, especially in the south. In September, 1823, the Hooghly river rose to an unprecedented height; and in May, 1833, a very severe storm- wave and floods devastated Mandalghat and the southern parganas. In August, 1844, the Damodar burst its banks and turned the whole country between Bali Dlwanganj and Dhaniakhali into one vast sea of water; and in September, 1845, Mandalghat and the south of the District were similarly inundated. Thanks to numerous embankments, floods are now of comparatively rare occurrence ; but in the south the country is still liable to inundation, especially on the right side of the Damodar, over which the floods are allowed to spill in order to save the embankments on the left of its course.
History
In the pre-Musalman period Hooghly formed part of llic Rarh and Suhma divisions of Bengal, but the historical interest of the District dates from more recent times. The memories of many nations cluster round its principal towns, and many a village on the bank of the Hooghly is associated with some historical event. S.atgaon, now a petty village, was the traditional mercanlile capital of Bengal in the days of Hindu rule, and in the early period of the Muhammadan supremacy was the seat of the governor of Lower Bengal. In the sixteenth century the channel of the SaraswatI river, on which Satgaon is situated, began to silt up, and the principal stream of the Ganges gradually deserted this bed for the Hooghly, at that time a comparatively small river ; Satgaon became inaccessible to large vessels, and in 1537 the Portuguese settled at Hooghly Town. In 1632 this was captured by the Muhammadans, after a three and a half months' siege, and the seat of the royal port of Bengal was removed thither from Satgaon with all the records and offices. The English factory at Hooghly dates from 1651 ; and it was here that the English first came into collision with the Muhammadan government in Bengal, with the result that Hooghly was abandoned for Calcutta in 1690. The Dutch established themselves at Chinsura in the early part of the seventeenth century, and held it until it was ceded to Great Britain in 1825. Chandernagore became a French settlement in 1673, and, though more than once occupied by the English, is still a French possession. The Danes made a tem- porary settlement near the present site of Chandernagore towards the close of the seventeenth century. Their settlement at Serampore, which dates from about 1676, was acquired by the English by purchase in 1845.
In 1759 Burdwan (which then included the present Hooghly Dis- trict), Midnapore, and Chittagong were assigned to the East India Company by ]\Iir Kasim for the support of troops to be kept up by the Company; and in 1765 the Mughal emperor invested the Com- pany with the Dhvani of Bengal. Hooghly was separated from Burdwan as a separate magisterial charge in 1795, ^"^ in 181 9 it was constituted a separate revenue jurisdiction. Many changes have taken place in the area of Hooghly from time to time, owing to transfers to and from neighbouring Districts, the most important being the erection of HowRAH into a separate magisterial charge in 1843.
Population
The population of the District fell from 1,119,631 in 1872 to 974,992 in 1881, but rose again to 1,034,296 in 1891 and to 1,049,282 in 1 90 1. The surface is but little above sea-level, and the drainage is deteriorating owing to the silting up of old streams and watercourses. The soil is waterlogged, and the District is consequently very unhealthy. About twenty years ago it suffered severely from the malignant Burdwan fever, and, though this has disappeared, fevers of a virulent type arc still prevalent. Cholera has been bad in many years, and dysentery also claims its victims. The birth-rate is, outside Calcutta, the lowest in Bengal, and the increase in the population during the last decade is due to immi- gration.
The principal statistics of the Census of 1901 are shown beUjw : —
The density of the population is greater than in any other District of Western Bengal, apart from Howrah. Except on the crowded high bank of the Hooghly, it is highest in the south and decreases towards the north and west, where alone it falls below the rate of 800 per- sons to the square mile. The only part of the District which showed any marked advance in the decade ending 1901 ^was the Serampore thcifia, where the increase exceeded 17 per cent., the actual addition to its population being about the same as that for the District as a whole. Of the towns, Hooghly itself, including Chinsura, the head-quarters of the District, is decadent, but Ser.\mpore, the indus- trial centre, and Bhadreswar are growing rapidly ; the other chief towns are Uttarpara, Baidyabati, and Bansbaria, all lying along the Hooghly, and Aramb.\gh, the head-quarters of the subdivision of the same name. There is a large immigration from the neighbour- ing Districts, especially from liankura ; and the mills attract numer- ous labourers from Bihar, the United Provinces, Chota Nagpur, and Cuttack. Oriyas are employed as domestic servants and /a/^V-bearers, while labourers from Chota Nagpur and Cuttack work in the brick- fields and elsewhere during the dry season. On the other hand, a large number of natives of the District find employment in Calcutta as petty shopkeepers and clerks. The vernacular spoken is the dialect known as Central Bengali. Hindus number 86r,ii6, or 82 per cent, of the total, and Musalmans 184,577, or 17-6 per cent., while of the remainder 2,766 are Animists and 759 Christians. The Muhammadans, who are chiefly Shaikhs, are found mostly in the head-quarters subdivision, where Hooghly and Pandua have long lieen centres of Muhanimadan influence.
The most numerous Hindu castes are those of the semi-aboriginal Bagdis (189,000), Kaibarttas, the great race-caste of Midnapore (157,000), Brahmans (73,000), and Sadgops, formerly the dominant caste of Gopbhum (59,000). Of the total population, 54 per cent, are supported by agriculture- an unusually small proportion for Bengal — 20 per cent, by industries, 2-5 per cent, by commerce, and 3-8 per cent, by the professions.
A Portuguese mission at Bandel maintains a school attended by about 75 boys. The United Free Church Rural Mission possesses 2 mission schools and a zanana mission house, in addition to 4 out- stations. A school, formerly a college, founded in 18 12 by the famous missionaries, Marshman, Ward, and Caiey, and a training school for native pastors of the Baptist Church are conducted by the Baptist Mission at Serampore.
Agriculture
The alluvial soil is extremely fertile and produces good rice crops. A strip ten miles broad along the west bank of the Damodar receives the spill waters of that river, and but little rice can be grown on it ; but it produces magnificent cold- season crops of mustard and pulses, and also fine sugar-cane. The chief agricultural statistics for 1903-4 are shown below, in square miles : —
Rice is the principal crop ; large quantities of the finer kinds are grown for the Calcutta market, while coarse rice is imported for local consumption. The winter harvest is the most important crop. Sugar- cane, jute, and betel-leaf {Piper Betle) are extensively grown, and the District is noted for its market gardens ; potatoes, yams, cauliflowers, cabbages, and brinjals {Solanum meh?igena) are grown in great (juan- tities, especially in the Serampore subdivision, for .sale in Calcutta.
During the last thirty years a series of drainage projects have been carried out to drain the numerous marshes ; and the result has been to convert many square miles of marshy country into fertile plough land. Little advantage has been taken of the Land Improvement and Agri- culturists' Loans Acts, the average sums advanced annually during the decade ending 1 901-2 being only Rs. 2,500.
Pasturage is deficient, and the local cattle are poor and ill-fed. They graze on the stubble and, while the crops are on the ground, are stall-fed with rice straw. Sheep are fattened for the Calcutta market, especially in the Pandua thdna.
The ordinary crops are irrigated only in seasons of drought ; but potatoes, sugar-cane, and betel-leaf require plentiful irrigation, the water being lifted from the nearest river, khdl, or tank. Some irrigation takes place from the Eden and Midnapore Canals.
A valuable description of fine sand used for mortar is dug up from the old bed of the Saraswati river at Magra, and limestone is quarried in tracts bordering on Midnapore District.
Trade and Communication
In the early days of the East India Company, silk and cotton fabrics to the annual value of about 10 lakhs were woven ; and though these industries have declined, they are still important, and superior cotton fabrics fetch high prices. Silk and con^unlcTtfons. tasar fabrics are manufactured in the Arambagh sub- division, and silk handkerchiefs in Serampore town. The chief centres of the cotton-weaving industry are Serampore, Haripal, and Khanyan, the weavers in Serampore and its neighbourhood using an improved handloom with a fly-shuttle. Silk and cotton cloths are dyed by the weaving classes, and at Serampore silks are dyed and colour-printed. Some chikan work (embroidery) is done in the Dhaniakhali thdna.
Gunny cloth is manufactured at Balughat, and jute and hemp rope at Chatra, Sankarpur, Nabagram, and Khalsini. Castor and mustard oils are largely manufactured. Brass and bell-metal utensils are made in several places, especially in the neighbourhood of Bansbaria and Kamarpara. A colony of carpenters near Chandernagore works for the Calcutta shops, and in the Goghat thdna ebony-wood work is manufactured, the articles finding a ready sale in Calcutta and the neighbouring Districts. Baskets are made at Mayapur, Bandipur, and Magra, and good mats are woven at Serampore, Bandipur, Akri, and Borai. Common pottery-ware is made at Bhadreswar and Sukinda, and large quantities of bricks, tiles, and surki are manufactured, chiefly in the Serampore subdivision. A cotton-mill at Serampore employs 800 hands, while as many as 23,000 earn a livelihood in the jute-mills at Serampore, Rishra, Champdani, Telinipara, and Chandernagore. The Victoria Chemical Works at Konnagar produced in 1903-4 an out-turn of 900 tons of chemicals.
The chief exports are fine rice, pulses, silk, indigo, jute and hemp rope, cotton cloth, gunny-bags, bricks, tiles, and vegetables; and the chief imports are common rice, English piece-goods, twist and yarn, salt, lime from Burdwan and Sylhet, tobacco, coal, kerosene oil, ghi, spices, and timber. The principal marts are Seoraphull, Magra, Bhadreswar, and Bali Diwanganj, at all of which agricultural produce is collected for dispatch, chiefly to Calcutta. The hand-loom cotton fabrics are sold at Salkhia Hat in Howrah District. Most of the important trade centres have the advantage of excellent means of transport by rail, river, canal, and rcjad. Pack-bullocks are largely used in Arambagh.
The east of the District is well provided with railways. The L'.ast Indian Railway (broad gauge) runs through it for a distance of about 41 miles, with eighteen stations in the District. The Tarakeswar branch of this railway, 22 miles in length, accommodates the pilgrim traffic to the famous temple of Tarakeswar.
The Naihati branch, lead- ing to the Jubilee Bridge over the Hooghly, establishes communication with the Eastern Bengal State Railway. The Tarakeswar-Magra Rail- way (2 feet 6 inches gauge) leaves the East Indian Railway at Magra and joins the Tarakeswar branch at Tarakeswar ; recently this line has been extended to Tribeni. The Howrah-Sheakhala Steam Tramway (2 feet gauge) lies partly, and an extension of the Howrah-Amta Light Railway (2 feet gauge) from Jagatballabhpur to Champadanga almost wholly, within the District. Other lines have been projected, including the Hooghly-Katwa extension and the Burdwan-Howrah chord-line of the East Indian Railway, and the Bishnupur-Howrah chord-line of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway.
The grand trunk road from Calcutta crosses the Hooghly at Palta and traverses the District for 37 miles, being joined at Ghireti by a branch from Salkhia through Serampore ; it is maintained by the District board, the expenditure being met from Provincial funds. There are in addition 506 miles of District roads, of which 78 are metalled, and 844 miles of village tracks. The old Benares road was formerly a military road, but it is now in a neglected condition, being annually flooded by the water of the Damodar. The road from Tribeni to Guptipara formed the old through route from Calcutta to Nabadwip, Murshidabad, Rangpur, and Darjeeling. Other roads con- nect Chinsura with Dhanikhali and Khanpur, Hooghly town with Majnan, Magra with Khanpur, Pandua with Kalna, Bainchi with Dasghara, Chandernagore with Bhola, Baidyabati with Tarakeswar, Nabagram with Chaspur, Arambagh with Tetulmari, Uchalan with Midnapore, and Mayapur with Jagatpur, via Khanakul. The roads in the Arambagh subdivision are mostly fair-weather tracks, barely passable by bullock-carts in the rains.
A daily service of steamers plies on the Hooghly between Calcutta and Killna in Burdwan, calling at several places in Hooghly District for passengers and cargo.
The District is practically immune from famine; but in 1866 some relief measures were necessary, and in 1874 there was slight distress in the northern thanas.
Administration
For administrative purposes the District is divided into three subdivisions, with head-quarters at Chinsura, Serampore, and Arambagh. The Magistrate-Collector is also Col- lector of Howrah, which is subordinate to Hooghly for revenue purposes. He is assisted at head-quarters by a staff of one Joint-Magistrate and six Deputy-Magistrate-Collectors. The Serampore subdivision is in charge of a Joint-Magistrate, assisted by a Deputy-Magistrate-Collector and a Sub-Deputy-Collector. The sub- divisional officer of Arambagh is a Deputy-Magistrate-Collector, and he has a Sub-Deputy-Collector subordinate to him. Chinsura is the head-quarters of the Commissioner of the Burdwan Division and of the District Civil Surgeon ; a second Civil Surgeon is stationed at Serampore.
The District and Sessions Judge is also Judge of Howrah; sub- ordinate to him for civil work are two Sub-Judges, a Small Cause Court Judge, and eight ]\Iunsifs, of whom two sit at Hooghly, three at Serampore, and three at Arambagh. The Additional District and Sessions Judge of the Twenty-four Parganas is also Additional District and Sessions Judge of Hooghly. The criminal courts include those of the Sessions and Additional Sessions Judges, the District Magistrate, and the above-mentioned magistrates. With the exception of dacoity, the District is comparatively free from serious crime. The French settlement of Chandernagore used to be a centre for the smuggling of opium and spirits, but this illicit trade has now been checked.
The current land revenue demand, including that for Howrah, amounted in 1903-4 to 13-64 lakhs, payable by 4,229 estates. The greater portion of the District is permanently settled, and the total demand from other classes of estates is only Rs. 60,000. Owing to the close assessment at the time of the Permanent Settlement, the incidence of land revenue (which amounts to Rs. 3-0-8 per cultivated acre) is higher than in any other District in Bengal, except Burdwan, of which Hooghly at that time formed part. As in that District, /a/;« and darpaini tenures are common. Rents are high and have risen of late years. First-class rice land, which was formerly rented for Rs. 1 1-4 an acre, now pays from Rs. 15-12 to Rs. 27, and the rent of inferior rice land has risen from between Rs. 5-10 and Rs. 6-12 to between Rs. 7-14 and Rs. 10-2 an acre. Mulberry and tobacco lands are rented at from Rs. 18 to Rs. 45 an acre, and sugar-cane land at from Rs. 18 to Rs. 36.
The following table shows the collections of land revenue and ot total revenue (principal heads only), in thousands of rupees : —
Outside the eight municipalities of Hooghi.'S' (with Chinsura), Serampore, Uttarpara, BAnjVAB.\Ti, Bhadreswar, KoiRANci, Bansharia, and Aramb.\(;h, local affairs are managed by a District board, with subordinate local boards in each subdivision, besides five Union committees. In 1903-4 the total income of the District board was Rs. 1,48,000, of which Rs. 79,000 was deri\ed from Provincial rates ; the expenditure amounted to Rs. 1,68,000, of which Rs. 98,000 was spent on pubHc works. The Howrah-Sheakhala Light Railway was constructed in 1897 under the auspices of the District board, which guarantees 4 per cent, on the capital and receives half the net profits above that sum. Under this agreement the District board paid Rs. 6,243 ^"d ^s- 3)471 ij^ 1896-7 and 1898-9 respectively; since that time the financial position has improved, and though the board has sometimes had to pay smaller sums, it has also occasionally received a share of the profits.
Embankments have been constructed along portions of the Dwark- eswar, Sankra, Rupnarayan, Damodar, Kana Damodar, Kana NadI, and SaraswatI rivers. The Dankuni marsh was drained in 1873, and 20 square miles of almost valueless and very malarious country were thereby converted into fertile arable land. A small portion of the District is irrigated from the Eden Canal. The Hooghly is spanned at Naihati by a large cantilever bridge, which was opened in 1887 {see Hooghly River).
The District contains 13 police stations and 23 outposts. The force subordinate to the District vSuperintendent in 1903 consisted of 3 inspectors, 42 sub-inspectors, 67 head constables, and 699 constables. Chinsura is the head-quarters of a company of military police 100 strong, which is utilized, when necessary, to maintain order among the men working in the numerous mills on both banks of the Hooghly. There is one policeman to every 2-1 miles of area and to every 1,883 persons. The rural police consists of 276 dajfaddrs and 2,804 chankldars. The District jail at Hooghly town can hold 437 prisoners, and sub-jails at Serampore and Arambagh have a total accommoda- tion for 43.
In 1901 the proportion of literate persons was io-6 per cent. (19-7 males and 1-4 females). The proportion of literate females is higher than in any other part of Bengal except Calcutta. The total number of pupils under instruction was 53,956 in 1892-3 and 43,911 in 1900-1. In 1903-4, 43,667 boys and 3,549 girls were at school, being respectively 55-2 and 4-5 per cent, of the children of school- going age. The number of educational institutions, public and private, in the latter year was 1,469, including two Arts colleges, 97 secondary, 1,224 primary, and 145 special schools. The expenditure on education was 3-45 lakhs, of which Rs. 60,000 vvas met from Provincial funds, Rs. 42,000 from District funds, Rs. 5,000 from municipal funds, and I -8 1 lakhs from fees. The principal educational institutions are in Hooghly town, but one of the Arts colleges is at Uttarpaka, where there is also a large public library given by Babu Jay Krishna Mukharji, the founder of the college. Public libraries are likewise maintained at Hooghly town and Serampore.
In 1903 the District contained 13 dispensaries, of which 6 had a total accommodation for 131 in-patients; the cases of 71,000 out- patients and 2,111 in-patients were treated, and 5,308 operations were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 32,000, of which Rs. 4,000 was met from Government contributions, Rs. 16,000 from Local and Rs. 7,000 from municipal funds, and Rs. 4,000 from subscriptions. Besides these, there were in 1903 one police hospital and one railway hospital at Hooghly town, and sixteen private hospitals in the District.
Vaccination, which is compulsory within the municipal areas, is not making great progress in the District. In 1903-4 the number of persons successfully vaccinated was 25,000, representing 27 per 1,000 of the population.
[Sir W. W. Hunter, Staiistkal Account of Bengal^ vol. iii (1876); G. Toynbee, A Sketch of the Administration of the Hooghly District from 1795 ^0 1^45 (Calcutta, 1888); Hooghly Medical Gazetteer; and Lt.-Col. D. G. Crawford, I. M.S., A Brief History of the Hooghly District {Csiicuita., 1903).]
