Mahananda, 1908

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Mahananda

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.

River of North Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam, important in the past as forming a boundary between his- torical divisions of the country, and still much used as a means of communication in its lower reaches. Rising in Mahaldiram, a moun- tain in the Himalayan range in Darjeeling District, in 26° 56' N. and 88° 20' E., it flows generally in a southerly direction till it joins the Ganges in Malda District, in 24° 28^ N. and 88° 18' E., after a course of 256 miles. It was formerly a large river and formed the western boundary of the Barendra division of Bengal, and still earlier of the kingdom of Pundra, or Paundravardhana, the country of the Pods, whose capital was at Mahasthan ; and it has had a great influence on the recent ethnic distribution of the people. East of its course, the Kochs, or Rajbansis of North Bengal, are the chief element in the population, while to the west they are scarcely found at all. A large proportion of this race are now followers of Islam, and east of the river Musalmans predominate, while to the west the population is mainly Hindu. It is also a linguistic boundary, Hindi being spoken to the west of it and Bengali to the east.

The Mahananda touches upon Jalpaiguri District near the foot of the hills, a short distance above Siliguri, at which place it receives the waters of the New Balasan ; and the united stream forms the boundary between this District and Darjeeling for a short distance before it passes into Purnea at Titalya. It has a very rapid current in the upper part of its course, and is subject to heavy freshes which render navigation impracticable. After a tortuous course through Purnea, in which District its chief tributaries are the Dank, Pitanu, Nagar, Mechi, and Kankai, and its principal marts Kishanganj and Barsoi, it enters Malda and flows south-east through that District, which it divides into two nearly equal portions. It here receives as affluents the Tangan, Purnabhaba, and Kalindrl, which drain the greater portion of Dinajpur, and eventually falls into the Ganges at godagari.