Lahore 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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Lahore District
{Ldhaur). — District in the Lahore Division, Punjab, lying between 30° 38' and 31° 54' N. and 73° 38' and 74° 58' E., with an area of 3,704 square miles. In shape it is nearly square, its south- east side resting on the Sutlej, beyond which lies Ferozepore. It is bounded by the Districts of Sialkot and Amritsar on the north-east, by Gujranwala on the north-west, and by Montgomery on the south-west.
Physical aspects
The District falls naturally into four distinct parts. To the north- west the Ravi runs parallel with its border and cuts off asoects about 900 square miles of the Rechna Doab, mostly included in the Sharakpur tahs'il — a barren tract, three-fourths of which lies waste, while the Muhammadan cultivators of the remainder show a marked inferiority in both effort and ability to the Hindus south of the Ravi. The Ravi alluvial tract, or Bet, stretches for 300 square miles along the south bank of the river, a low-lying country, bare and desolate, and constantly subject to diluvion.
In striking contrast to it is the Lahore Manjha, a plateau of 1,600 square miles, bounded north and south by high banks, which look down on the valley of the Ravi to the north and the old bed of the Beas to the south. Formerly a wilderness, the Manjha has been turned by the Bari Doab Canal into a fertile and prosperous tract. South of the Manjha lies the old valley of the Beas, a low-lying triangular patch of broken country, known as the Hithar, inundated by the Sutlej. Besides the Sutlej and Ravi, the only stream of any importance is the Degh torrent, which traverses the Sharakpur tahs'il. There are no hills of any kind.
The District is of no geological interest, as its soil is entirely alluvial. The indigenous flora in the south-west is that of the Western Punjab, but only on a meagre scale. Trees are largely planted. Indigenous kinds are rare, except on the waste lands, where, before the construction of recent canal extensions, miles of scrub existed, composed chiefly of van {Salvadora oleoides), Jagid (^Prosopis spicigera), and kari or kair {Capparis aphylla). The tamarisk-tree {Taniarix articu/ata), found throughout the drier parts of the Punjab, is abundant and conspicuous. Theer (Zizyphts Jiijubd) is sometimes naturalized, and often planted.
Wolves are occasionally met with in the low-lying wastes of the Chunian tahsil and in parts of Sharakpur. In the Changa Manga forest nilgai and wild hog are to be found. The fox, jackal, and wild cat are common. Game-birds are few.
The climate of Lahore does not difler from that of the Punjab plains in general, save that it is moister in June owing to the canal-irrigation. The monsoon as a rule lasts a very few days, and the great heat of July and August is rendered more intolerable by the excessive moisture in the air. The average annual rainfall varies from 22 inches on the north-east border to 13 inches on the south-west.
History
The history of the District is that of its chief towns, Lahore and Kasur. It was created in 1849, When the Punjab was annexed, and the greater part of the Sharakpur tahsil was added in 1855. Dunng the Mutmy of 1857, a plot among the sepoys at Mian Mir to seize the fort of Lahore was fortunately discovered in time, and frustrated by the disarming of the mutinous regiments under the guns of a battery of horse artillery, supported by a British infantry regiment. Throughout the rebellion Lahore continued in a disturbed state. In July the 26th Native Infantry Regiment mutinied at Mian Mir, and, after murdering some of their officers, succeeded in effecting their escape under cover of a dust-storm. They were, however, overtaken on the banks of the Ravi, and destroyed by a force under Mr. Cooper, Deputy-Commissioner of Amritsar. The strictest pre- cautions were adopted in and around the city, until the fall of Delhi removed all further cause of apprehension.
The only pre-Muhammadan remains are a number of mounds on the Gujranwala border. They have never been excavated, but coins of the Indo-Parthian and Kushan dvnasties have been found, as well Population. as a few fragments of terra-cotta figures. Ff)r the principal antiquities of the District see Lahore City.
Population
The District contains 7 towns and 1,533 villages. Its population at the last four enumerations was: (1868) 788,409, (1881) 924,106, (1891) 1,075,379, and (1901) 1,162,109. In the last decade there was a marked decrease in the popula- tion of the Sharakpur tahsil and of the Ravi valley, and a slight decrease in the Sutlej lowlands, while the population of the Manjha and of Lahore city increased largely. The District is divided into the four Tahsils of Lahore, Chunian, Kasur, and Sharakpur, the head- quarters of each being at the place from which it is named. The towns are the municipalities of Lahore, the administrative head- quarters of the Province and the District, Kasur, Khem Karan, Patti, Chunian, Khudian, and Sharakpur.
The following table shows the chief statistics of population in 1901 : —
Muhammadans number 717,519, or 62 per cent, of the total; Hindus, 276,375, or 24 per cent. : and Sikh.s, 159,701, or 14 per cent. Lahore city contains the head-quarters of several religious organizations, including branches of the Arya Samaj and of the Sanatan Dharm Sabha, two influential Hindu societies. The density is 314 persons per square mile, which is very much higher than the Provincial average (209). It varies from 650 in the Lahore tahsil, which includes the city, to 134 in the Sharakpur tahsil, three-fourths (jf which is uncultivated. Punjabi is the language both of the District and of the city, though Urdu is known and on occasions used by most of the city folk.
Jats (192.000) are the most important tribe. The Sikh Jat is a better cultivator and a better fighter than the Hindu or Muham- madan, and the Sikh of the Manjha has been described in the article on Amritsar District. Next to the Jats in numbers come the market-gardener tribe of Arains (128,000), who are settled on either bank of the Ravi. Rajputs (60,000) here, as elsewhere, are poor farmers and heavily in debt. Kambohs (23,000) and Dogars (8,000) are agricultural and pastoral tribes. The Mahtams (10,000) are a wild tribe, proclaimed under the Criminal Tribes Act.
Brahmans number 25,000 and Saiyids 10,000. Commercial castes include the Khojas (17,000), who are Muhammadans, the Khattrls (42,000), and the Aroras (38,000), who are almost all Hindus, with a few Sikhs. Of the artisan classes, the Julahas (weavers, 44,000), Telis (oil-pressers, 34,000), Tarkhans (carpenters, 40,000), Kumhars (potters, 40,000), Mochls (shoemakers and leather-workers, 24,000), and Lobars (blacksmiths, 16,000) are the most important; and of the menials, the Chuhras (scavengers, 127,000), Machhis (fishermen and water-carriers, 28,000), Jhinwars (water-carriers, 20,000), Chhimbas and Dhobis (washermen, 18,000), and Nais (barbers, 16,000). The MirasTs (village minstrels) number 13,000. Other castes which appear in strength are the Kash- miris (16,000), who are immigrants from Kashmir, and generally live by wool-weaving : and the mendicants (15,000). The Labanas (11,000) were formerly carriers, but their trade having been superseded by the railway they have now taken to cultivation. About 40 per cent, of the population are supported by agriculture.
The District contained 2,990 native Christians in 1901. Lahore was occupied in 1849 by the American Presbyterian Mission, which has out-stations at Kasur and Wagah ; the principal institution is the Formal! Christian College. The Church Missionary Society, which established a branch at Lahore in 1867, maintains a Divinity School for the purpose of training native Christians as clergy and catechists, and also a settlement at the village of Clarkabad. The Methodist Episcopal Mission started work at Lahore in 1883. The Punjab Religious Book Society has its central depository in Lahore, for supplying religious and other works in English and. in the vernacular languages.
Agriculture
With a rainfall ranging from 20 inches in the east to 8 inches in the west, cultivation naturally depends mainly on artificial irrigation. The soil is for the most part loam, varing in fertility according to the amount 01 sand it contains. In
the low-lying land where surface drainage collects, the soil is stiff, with little sand. In the river tracts a pure alluvial loam is found, and the east of the Kasur ^L^njha is formed of good fertile land covered with a slight coating of sand. In places a still sandier soil occurs, fit only for growing the inferior pulses ; and there are, chiefly in the low-lying river lands, considerable tracts of sandy and salt-impregnated soils which are worthless even under irrigation. In the Manjha, however, the un- cultivated waste is almost entirely confined to tracts to which the Bari Doab Canal has not been extended. In the western Manjha the raintall is too feeble and uncertain to ripen crops by itself ; and where there is no irrigation, the cultivated land is surrounded by an expanse of waste which serves as a catchment area for the rainfall.
The District is held almost entirely by small peasant proprietors, large estates covering about 202 square miles and lands leased from Government 90 square miles. The area for which details are available from the revenue records of 1903-4 is 3,594 square miles, as shown below : —
Wheat, the chief crop of the spring harvest, occupied 801 square miles, gram 236 square miles, and barley only 2>2> square miles. In the autumn harvest, cotton, the chief crop, covered 193 square miles, while maize is the principal food-grain (123 square miles), followed by rice (60) and great millet (38).
The area under cultivation increased by 8 per cent, during the ten years ending 1901, and the tendency is for it still to rise, partly owing to the extension of canal-irrigation and partly from the increased pressure of the population on the soil. In 1896-7 a colony was established on 35,000 acres of state lands irrigated by the Bari Doab Canal in the Chunian tahsil, and an additional area of 4,000 acres was thrown open in 1903. In this colony 24 new villages have been founded, the land having either been sold, or leased to carefully selected occupancy tenants. Little has been done to improve the quality of the seeds sown, though experiments in growing indigo and cultivating the bdra variety of rice have been made. Loans for the construction of wells are growing in popularity, and more than Rs. 40,000 was advanced during the five years ending 1903-4 under the Land Improvement Loans Act. Loans for the purchase of bullocks and seed amounted to Rs. i,88,coo in the same period.
Few cattle are bred in the District, as most of the cultivators are supplied by itinerant dealers from Hissar, Multan, Montgomery, or Bahawalpur with picked animals suitable for well and plough-work, while the north of the District is supplied chiefly from Amritsar, Gujranwala, and Jhang. The cattle found in the Manjha present, in strength and condition, a great contrast to the weakly half-starved animals of the Ravi and Sutlej valleys, partly because the Manjha people can better afford the luxury of good cattle, and partly because only the strongest animals are able to stand the work entailed by the deep Manjha wells, the heavy ploughing of the canal-irrigated lands, and the long distances to which produce has to be transported in carts. There is a large trade in g/ii and milk in the villages within easy reach of Lahore. Horses and ponies are most numerous in the Manjha; 5 pony stallions are kept by the District board and 14 by the Army Remount department ; 5 donkey stallions are kept by the Dis- trict board and 13 by the Army Remount department. There are not many mules in the District, but donkeys are largely used as pack animals. Large numbers of sheep and goats are bred, and camels are used both as pack animals and for riding.
Of the total area cultivated in 1903-4, 1,555 square miles, or 73 per cent., were classed as irrigated. Of this area, 543 square miles were supplied from wells, 77 from wells and canals, 881 from canals, and 54 from streams and tanks. In addition, 116 square miles, or nearly 5^ per cent, of the cultivated area, are subject to inundation from the Ravi and Sutlej. On the left bank of the Ravi the greater part of the Manjha is irrigated by the Bari Doab Canal, while the low-lying lands of the Sutlej are irrigated from wells and by the Katora, Khanwah, and Upper Sohag canals of the Upper Sutlej Inun- dation Canals system. In the R.avi valley, and in the alluvial land on the north bank of the Sutlej, cultivation depends largely on river inundation. In the Sharakpur tahs'il, north of the Ravi, wells afford the only permanent irrigation, supplemented by inundation and channel irrigation from the Degh stream. There are 15,461 masonry wells, all worked with Persian wheels by cattle, besides 221 lever wells, water-lifts, and unbricked wells.
The District contains 23 square miles of 'reserved' and 187 of unclassed forests under the Forest department. The most important is the Changa Manga plantation, a ' reserved ' forest with an area of 37 square miles, chiefly covered with shjsham, which is irrigated from the Bari Doab Canal. The Shahdara plantation, another ' reserved ' forest, has an area of 2 square miles. In 1903-4 the total forest receipts were 2-1 lakhs. In addition, 19 square miles are held as Reserves by the Military department, and 429 acres of unclassed forest are under the control of the Deputy-Commissioner.
Kankar or nodular limestone is found in most parts, and saltpetre is produced to some extent, chiefly in the Sharakpur taJislI. There are no other mineral products of any value.
Trade and Communication
Arts and manufactures are mostly confined to Lahore city, and comprise chiefly the making of cotton fabrics, vegetable oils, ivory bangles, leather, furniture, and bricks, and printing on cloth. In all parts coarse cotton cloth is eom^muniStons.
woven, and cotton cleaning, baling, and pressing are carried on. The District contains 20 cotton-ginning factories, 7 cotton-presses, and one combined ginning and pressing factory, which give employment to a total of 1,434 persons. The great factory centres are I^ahore, ChOnian, and Kasur. In addition, Lahore city contains two cotton-spinning and weaving mills, em- ploying 771 hands, the North- Western Railway workshops with 4,669 employes, an iron foundry with 57, an oil and flour-mill with 65, and two printing presses with 229. At Kasur leather and cotton carpets are manufactured.
Lahore city is the commercial centre of the District, but Kasur, Chunian, and Raiwind are important for local trade. Large quantities of wheat, cotton, and oilseeds are exported to Karachi, and cotton-seed to Ferozepore. The chief imports are piece-goods, brass and copper vessels, and iron ; while Lahore city and cantonment import a great variety of supplies for their inhabitants. At Lahore are the head- quarters of the Punjab Banking Company, with a branch in the cantonment, and branches of the Alliance Bank of Simla, the Com- mercial Bank of India, and the National Bank of India.
Lahore is the point of junction of railways from Karachi, Peshawar, and Delhi, and the head-quarters of the North-Western State Railway. A branch from Ferozepore joins the Karachi line at Raiwind, and the Tarn Taran-Patti section of the Amritsar-Patti branch was opened in December, 1906. The grand trunk road passes through Lahore, and an important metalled road runs from Lahore to Ferozepore. The total length of metalled roads is 199 miles, and of unmetalled roads 856 miles. Of these, 103 miles of metalled and 17 of unmetalled roads are under the Public Works department, and the rest are main- tained by the District board. Besides these, the roads along the banks of the main branches of the Bari Doab Canal are perhaps the best unmetalled roads to be found in the District. The grand trunk road crosses the Ravi by a bridge of boats, and wheeled traffic can also pass over the railway bridge. There are twenty-seven ferries on the Ravi ; those on the Sutlej are maintained by the Ferozepore District board.
Famine
A severe famine occurred in 1759, and the District was devastated by the terrible distress of 1783. Subsequent famines occurred in 1813, . 1823, 1833, 1867, and 1896. The construction of
the Bari Doab Canal has now, however, rendered the District practically secure from famine, except as regards the unirri- gated Sharakpur tahsli, which is in course of protection. In 1896-7 an area of 625 square miles was affected ; the highest daily average relieved in any week was 10,425, and the total amount expended was Rs. 64,000. In 1 899-1 900 the whole of the Sharakpur tahsil (894 square miles) was affected ; but the highest daily average relieved in any week was only 2,559, and the expenditure was Rs. 34,000.
Administration
The District is in charge of a Deputy-Commissioner, aided by eight Assistant and Extra-assistant Commissioners, of whom one is the subdivisional officer in charge of the Kasur outpost There are four tahstls, each under a Tahsilddr and a naib-tahsilddr. Lahore is the head-quarters of the Deputy-Inspector- General of Police, Central Range, an Assistant Conservator of Forests, a Superintending Engineer, and two Executive Engineers of the Canal department.
The Deputy-Commissioner as District Magistrate is responsible for criminal justice, while civil judicial work is under a District Judge, supervised by the Divisional and Sessions Judge of the Lahore Civil Division, which includes this District only. The District Judge is assisted by a Subordinate Judge and four Munsifs, one for each tahsil those for Lahore and Sharakpur both sitting at Lahore, and those for Kasur and Chunian at the tahsil head-quarters. A Small Cause Court Judge also sits at Lahore. The criminal work of the District is heavy. Dacoities have, however, decreased of late, owing to the strenuous measures that have been taken in conjunction with the Ferozepore local authorities to suppress them.
The Sikhs collected revenue in their usual way — taking one-quarter of the gross produce in kind, or levying acreage rates in cash on the more valuable crops, while in some cases Rs. 12 was paid in a lump sum on the land irrigated by a single well. A great part of the District was granted in Jaglr, and the land reserved by the State was partly farmed out to lessees, who exacted the legal amount and as much more as they dared. The cultivator, whether owner or not, was responsible for the revenue, and the distinction between owner and occupier was hardly recognized.
After annexation in 1849, a summary settlement was made, based on a deduction of 10 per cent, from the assumed value of the kind rents taken by the Sikhs. In each fahsll, however, the reduced assessment was pitched too high. The demand was rigid and payable in cash, so that, when prices began to fall rapidly, a bad harvest in 1851 completed the general distress and amplified the growing distrust of the British revenue system. The regular settlement began in 1852 with grants of large ad interim reductions to the distressed villages, whereby the people were induced to return to their homes. The settlement report, completed in 1856, showed an all-round deduction of 10 per cent, on the summary settlement. The relief thus given seems to have been sufficient ; and the rise in prices which followed on the drought of 1861 made the assessment very moderate, so that by 1864 the resources of the people had generally doubled. The revised settlement took one- sixth of the gross value of the produce as the share of Government, and distributed the result thus obtained over all villages by an acreage rate.
In addition, a separate assessment was fixed on every well and every acre of canal-irrigation. The result was an increase of -^T) P^^ cent, on the regular settlement. The settlement was a rigid one, and rates were firmly adhered to, with the natural result that the distribution of an assessment, moderate in the aggregate, fell lightly on some villages and unduly heavily on others. In 1888 the District once more came under settlement. It was found that village prices had risen 20 to 25 per cent, and that cultivation had increased 33 per cent., almost entirely owing to the extension of the Bari Doab Canal to the uplands of the Manjha, while the population had risen 36 per cent. The half net ' assets,' calculated at produce rates, amounted to 14 lakhs. The initial demand of the new settlement was ^\ lakhs. The average assessment on ' dry ' land is R. 0-9-6 (maximum 15 annas, minimum 4 annas), and that on 'wet' land Rs. 6-5-0 (maximum Rs. 12, minimum 4 annas). The demand, including cesses, for 1903-4 was 12-5 lakhs. The average size of a proprietary holding is 4-4 acres.
The collections of land revenue and of total revenue are shown below, in thousands of rupees : —
The District contains seven municipalities : Lahore, Kasur, Khem Karan, PattT, ChOnian, Khudian, and Sharakpur. Outside these, local affairs are managed by the District board, whose income in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 1,22,895, mainly derived from a local rate. A large portion of the income is expended on public works.
The police force consists of 1,663 of all ranks, including 70 cantonment and 685 municipal police, under a Superintendent, who usually has 2 Assistants, 2 Deputy-Superintendents (one in charge of Lahore city and the other in charge of the Kasur subdivision), and 10 inspectors under him. Village watchmen number 1,387, besides some 12 town watchmen in Patti and Sharakpur. There are 25 police stations. Lahore city contains three jails — the Central jail. District jail, and female penitentiary, all under one Superintendent. The Central jail has accommodation for 1,721 prisoners, the District jail for 578, and the female penitentiary for 364.
Lahore stands eighth among the twenty-eight Punjab Districts in literacy, 44 per cent, of its population in 1901 being able to read and write (7-4 per cent, males and 0-7 females). The proportion is highest in the Lahore tahsil. The number of pupils under instruction was 6,279 i"^ 1880-1, 14,437 i" 1890-1, 19,271 in 1900-1, and 18,370 in 1903-4. In the last year the District contained 5 Arts colleges, 3 pro- fessional colleges, 28 secondary schools, 112 primary schools, 8 special (public) schools, and 8 advanced and 154 elementary (private) schools, with 1,802 girls in public and 1,182 girls in private schools.
The Arts colleges are the Government, Forman Christian, Dayanand, Islamiya, and Oriental Colleges ; the professional colleges are the Medical, Law, and Government Central Training Colleges. Other special institutions are : the Normal School, the Mayo School of Arts, the Medical School, the Railway Technical School, the Veterinary School, the Victoria Hindu Technical Institute, and classes in Yiinani and Vedic medicine. All these institutions are in Lahore city. The District possesses 13 high schools for boys — one at Kasur, and the rest, of which 3 are for European boys, at Lahore. The total expenditure on education in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 10,08,000, of which the District fund contributed Rs. 29,000, municipal funds Rs. 23,000, and Government Rs. 6,16,000. There was also an income of Rs. 2,04,000 from school fees and Rs. 1,36,000 from other sources.
The medical institutions in Lahore city are the Mayo and Lady Aitchison Hospitals, and two dispensaries — one maintained by the municipality, and one for females by the American Presbyterian Mission. There is a hospital at Kasur, and six outlying dispensaries. The number of cases treated in 1904 was 130,300, of whom 4,666 were in-patients, and 10,395 operations were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 1,00,000, of which municipal funds contributed Rs. 20,000. The Punjab Lunatic Asylum is situated at Lahore, as also are the Medical and Veterinary Colleges.
The number of persons successfully vaccinated in 1903-4 was 35,437> representing 30-9 per 1,000 of the population. The Vaccination Act has been extended to Lahore city.
(G. C. Walker, District Gazetteer (1893-4), Settlement Report (1894), and Customary Law of the Main Tribes in the Lahore District (1894) ; Saiyid Muhammad Latif, Lahore, its LListory, os^c. (1892).]
