Sukkur 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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Sukkur District,1908
Physical aspects
District in Sind, Bombay, lying between 27° 5' and 28° 26' N. and 68° 15' and 70° 14' E., with an area of 5,403 square miles. It is bounded on the north by the Upper Sind Frontier District and the Bahawalpur State of the Punjab ; on the east by the States of Bahawalpur and Jaisalmer ; on the south by Khairpur State and Larkana District ; and on the west by the Larkana and Upper Sind Frontier Districts. Until August, 1901, Sukkur formed part of Shikarpur District, which consisted of 14 tdlitkas. Seven idlukas were then detached to form the District of Larkana, and the name of the remaining District was changed from Shikarpur to Sukkur. The general aspect is that of a vast alluvial plain, broken only at Sukkur and Rohri by low limestone hills, Physical which tend to preserve a permanent bank for the Indus at those places. The Indus once flowed past these hills near the ancient town of Aror, and was diverted into its present channel through the Bukkur hills by some natural convulsion. Large patches of salt land, known as kalar, occur frequently, especially in the upper part of the District ; and towards the Jacobabad frontier barren tracts of clay and ridges of sandhills, covered with caper and thorn jungle, constitute a distinctive feature in the landscape. The desert portion of the Rohri subdivision, known as the Registan, possesses extensive sandhills, bold in outline and often fairly wooded.
The Indus alluvium occupies most of the District. The town of Sukkur is built on a low hill of Kirthar limestone, identical with the Splntangi limestone of Baluchistan. The same rock forms a range of hills east of the Indus. A boring made at Sukkur in the hope of discovering oil penetrated through a thickness of shales and lime- stones greatly exceeding 1,000 feet, beneath the Splntangi ; these lower rocks are lithologically similar to the Ghazij of Baluchistan, which occupies the same relative position.
Besides the common vegetation of Sind, the mango, mulberry, apple, pomegranate, and date grow freely ; among timber trees are the pipal, nim, ber, siras, tali, bahan, babul, and kandi. The bush of Rohri jungle consists principally of tamarisks, and reed grasses are abundant ; while, as in all parts of Upper Sind, the kirar, ak, and pan are ubiquitous.
The wild animals found are the hyena, hog, wolf, fox, jackal, gazelle, and hog deer. Lynx are occasionally met with in the Rohri sub- division. The birds and water-fowl are those common to Sind. Crocodiles are common in the Eastern Nara.
The climate is hot and dry, with a remarkable absence of air currents during the inundation season ; and it is, in consequence, very trying to a European constitution. The hot season commences in April and ends in October ; it is generally ushered in by violent dust-storms ; the cold season begins in November and lasts till March. The maximum, minimum, and mean temperatures in the shade are on an average 120°, 61°, 81°. The transition period from the hot to the cold season is very sudden at Rohri. The annual rainfldl at Sukkur town averages only 4.4 inches, occurring irregularly in the cold season and during the south-west monsoon.
History
The history of the Upper Sind Districts has been given in the historical survey of the province of Sind. Ruled until the Muham- madan invasion of 712 by a Brahman dynasty of Aror (or Alor) 5 miles from the modern town of Rohri, this portion of Sind was for some time a dependency of the Ummayid Khalifs and the Abbasids. Conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1025, the District passed a few years later to the Sumra dynasty, and then to the Samma and Arghun rulers of Sind. Under the emperors of Delhi, a Sindl tribe, the Mahars, asserted themselves by driving out the Jatoi tribe of Baloch who were settled on the western bank of the Indus, but were themselves displaced some years later by the powerful Daudputras, another Sindl tribe, who, led on by their Pir, Sultan Ibrahim Shah, inflicted a severe defeat on the Mahars, sacked their town of Lakhi, and founded a new capital for Upper Sind at Shikarpur. In the eighteenth century, the Kalhora chiefs held sway over the Upper Sind Districts till the Afghan invasion in 1781. Between 1809 and 1824, their successors, the Talpur Mirs, recovered Burdika, Rupar, and Sukkur from the Durrani kingdom, and finally captured Shikarpur, in time to prevent that town falling into the hands of the Sikhs under General Ventura. In 1833, during the Talpur rule. Shah Shuja, the dethroned Afghan monarch, made an expedition into Upper Sind to recover his lost territory. He marched with a force via Bahawalpur towards Shikarpur, and gained a victory which resulted in the payment to him by the Mirs of 4 lakhs, and Rs. 50,000 for his officers of state, while 500 camels were made over for the king's use. The Shah subsequently marched on his expedition against Kandahar; but, being defeated by Dost Muhammad, he retreated to Sind and proceeded to Hyderabad, where he obtained sufficient money from the Mirs to enable him to return to Ludhiana in the Punjab.
In 1843, on the conquest of the province by the British, all northern Sind, with the exception of that portion held by the Khairpur Mir, All Murad Talpur, was formed into the Shikarpur Collectorate and the Frontier District. In the previous year (1842), the towns of Sukkur, Bukkur, and Rohri had by treaty been ceded to the British in per- petuity. In 1 85 1, Mir All Murad Talpur, of Khairpur, was after a full and public inquiry convicted of acts of forgery and fraud, in unlawfully retaining certain lands and territories which belonged of right to the British Government. The forgery consisted in his having destroyed a leaf of the Koran in which the Naunahar treaty, concluded in 1842 between himself and his brothers, Mirs Nasir and Mubarak Khan, was written, and having substituted for it another leaf, in which the word ' village ' was altered to ' district,' by which he fraudulently obtained possession of several large districts instead of villages of the same name. On January 1, 1852, the Governor-General of India (the Marquis of Dalhousie) issued a proclamation depriving the Mir of the tracts wrongfully retained, and degrading him from the rank of Rais (or lord paramount). Of the area so confiscated, Ubauro, Buldika, Mirpur, Saidabad, and other parts of Upper Sind on the left bank of the Indus, now forming the greater part of the Rohri subdivision, were added to Shikarpur District, which in 1901 was divided into Sukkur and the new District of Larkana.
The principal antiquities are the ruined town and fort of Aror and the old stronghold of Mathelo. The latter, situated on rising ground 7 miles south-east of Ghotki railway station, is said to have been founded by a Rajput 1,400 years ago. In the old Hindu city of Vijnot, 4 miles south of Reti railway station, are found carved slabs, brick foundations, &c. In the vicinity are the old sites of Ther Sarwahi and Pattan Minar. The principal Musalman remains worthy of note are the Jama Masjid and War Mubarak of Rohri and Pir Musan Shah's Masjid at Ghotki. An ancient mosque at Ubauro is ascribed to the middle of the sixteenth century. Hakrah, about 2\ miles from Rohri, contains the ruins of an ancient town.
Population
The area now constituting the District had in 1891 of 474,477. In 1901 the number had increased to 523,345, or by 10 per cent., dwelling in 5 towns and 606 villages. The taluka distribution is shown table : —
Hindus form 27 per cent, of the total, and Musalmans 72 per cent. The density is 97 persons per square mile, the Mirpur Mathelo taluka being the least thickly populated, owing to its containing wide tracts of uncultivable desert. The towns are Shikarpur, Sukkur, Rohri, and Ghotki. The ordinary language is Sindi, spoken by 93 per cent, of the population. Baluchi and Siraikl are also spoken.
The Hindus of the District are, with few exceptions, Lohano traders, a few Bhils being found in Mirpur Mathelo. Among Musalmans, Baloch number 75,000, the principal tribes being the Burdis, Chan- dias, Jatois, Lasharis, and Harris. The Mahars, who once owned a great portion of the District, number 11,388, while the Suniras (23,000), Sammas (106,000), and the fishing caste of Muhanas (14,000), are the only other divisions of numerical importance. Arabs, including Kalhoras, are represented by 29,000. The Dahars of Khairpur Daharki in the Ubauro taluka, formerly Hindus, who came from Tonk Jodah near Delhi in the eleventh century and became converts to Islam, are an interesting section of the Musalman population. Details of the proportion of the population supported by different occupations are not available for Sukkur District. In the old Shikarpur District agriculture supported 58 per cent., industries 31 per cent., and com- merce 2 per cent.
Of 450 Christians in 1901, 51 were natives, mostly Roman Catholics. Two missions are at work in the District : namely, the Punjab-Sind branch of the Church Missionary Society, which commenced work in Sukkur in 1885 ; and a branch of the Church of England Zenana Mission, established in 1889, which maintains two Hindu girls' schools, a Muhammadan girls' school, an English school for boys and girls, a female dispensary, and an orphanage for boys.
Agriculture
The soils in the Rohri subdivision are in some places very rich. The stiff heavy soil saturated with moisture, known as sailabi, is found chiefly in the Shikarpur subdivision. It requires no water from seedtime to harvest.
The total cultivable land is estimated at 2,726 square miles, of which 1,106 are occupied. The chief statistics of cultivation in 1903 are shown below, in square miles : —
- This differs from the area sliown in the Census of iQoi, being based upon more recent
information.
The principal crops, with the area under each, are rice (87 square miles), wheat (249), jowar (262), bdjra (37), pulses, chiefly lang and gram (67), and oilseeds (47 square miles). About half of the total area under rice is in Naushahro Abro. Wheat is grown mainly in Rohri and Ghotki. Cotton, fruits, and vegetables are also extensively grown. Large advances have been made under the Land Improve- ment and Agriculturists' Loans Acts, amounting during the decade ending 1903-4 to more than 15/2 lakhs, of which 1.3 lakhs was advanced in 1899-1900, 3/2 lakhs in 1902-3, and 1-4 lakhs in 1903-4.
Owing to the extension of irrigation, a large amount of land has been brought under cultivation during the last twenty-five years. Rice is more largely cultivated, and ground-nuts are being introduced as an alternative crop to jowdr with considerable success.
The domestic animals comprise camels, horses, buffaloes, bullocks, sheep, goats, mules, and donkeys. The camels are mostly imported from Jaisalmer and Thar and Parkar, while good ponies of medium height are procurable in all parts of the District. Most of the animals which change hands at the annual Shikarpur horse show come from Jacobabad or from across the frontier. Mule-breeding is becoming popular, most of the animals being bred from Government donkey stallions.
Of the total area cultivated, 605 square miles, or 39 per cent., were irrigated in 1903-4. The various classes of irrigation sources are Government canals (141 square miles), private canals (408 square miles), wells (8 square miles), and other sources (47 square miles). Irrigation is also effected in some parts by lets or inundations of the Indus, which are a source of fertility in the Rohri subdivision. In other parts they are apt to be excessive, and protective embankments have been erected in many villages to prevent the wholesale destruc- tion of crops. The chief canals, all of which are fed by the Indus, are the Sind Canal, irrigating 166 square miles, Begari (78), Sukkur Canal (53), Nara Supply Channel (13), and Mahi wah (74). The total cultivable area commanded by the irrigation works is 1,096 square miles.
The forests of Sukkur cover an area of about 400 square miles, and are valuable only as fuel and timber reserves. They fringe the banks of the Indus and are in charge of a divisional Forest officer. The important trees are the pipal, nim, ber, siras, tali, bahan, babul, and kandi. The bush jungle consists for the most part of tamarisk. The forest receipts in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 94,000.
Trade and communications
The manufactures include earthenware, metal vessels, coarse cotton cloth, and leathern articles. The towns of Ghotki and Khairpur Daharki are noted for their manufactures of pipe- bowls, snuff-boxes, scissors, and cooking pots. Tasar silk is manufactured at Rohri. The former trade through the Bolan Pass has almost entirely ceased, goods from Afghan- istan and Central Asia taking the railway route. Sukkur and Shikar- pur are the only two important trade centres. The former has a large trade by rail and boat with the Punjab in wheat, timber, iron, and piece-goods. The traders of Shikarpur have direct dealings with Afghanistan, Bahrein, Cutch, Constantinople, China, and Japan in carpets, pearls, silks, silver-work, and fancy work. Both towns carry on a large import trade in wool from Afghanistan.
Besides the trunk roads which connect Sukkur with the adjoining Districts of Upper Sind, Larkana, Hyderabad, and Karachi, and with the Native States of Khairpur and Bahawalpur, the North-Western Railway runs through the District on both banks of the Indus, with a branch from Sukkur towards Quetta. The new line, styled the Kotri-Rohri Railway, on the left bank of the Indus, is an addition made in the last decade. The Indus is also a convenient and cheap means of water communication, and bears large numbers of country boats. The total length of metalled roads outside the municipal limits of Sukkur and Shikarpur is 8 miles, and of unmetalled roads 1,370 miles. They are all maintained by the local authorities. The chief roads are the Hyderabad-Multan road, running north for 73 miles, the Sukkur-Jacobabad road (38 miles), and the road from Rohri to Khair- pur (16 miles). Avenues of trees are maintained on these three roads.
Administration
The talukas are for administrative purposes grouped into three sub- divisions— Rohri, Mirpur, and Shikarpur — in charge of two Assistant Collectors and a Deputy-Collector. The Collector is ex-officio Political Agent of the Khairpur State.
A District and Sessions Judge and a Joint Judge sit at Sukkur ; and the civil judicial staff includes 5 Subordinate Judges. The District and Sessions Judge exercises jurisdiction also over Larkana District. Rohri possesses a resident magistrate ; and both Shikarpur and Sukkur have city magistrates. The Subordinate Judges exercise jurisdiction in suits of Rs. 5,000 in value or less within local limits. The first-class Subordinate Judge at Sukkur can hear suits of any value within the limits of Sukkur, Larkana, and Jacobabad Districts, excepting suits against Government. The District and Joint Judges hear suits and appeals of any value arising within the three Districts. Theft and cattle-stealing are the commonest forms of crime.
In the Rohri subdivision the maurusi tenure is found, under which the tenants possess an hereditary right of occupancy. This tenure resembles the aforament prevailing in parts of Portugal and the beklem- reght in the province of Groningen described by M. de Lavaleye in the first volume of the Cobden Club Essays. The tenant pays a quit-rent to the proprietor, which differs in different villages, but seldom exceeds 6 or 8 annas per acre, and cannot be enhanced. The settlement of the Government demand is made direct with the tenant, who is entered in the register as an occupant, the amount of quit-rent payable to the proprietor being also recorded. Other tenures are the zamindari and pattaddri. The former is equivalent to a charge on cultivation, payable in cash or in kind to the zamindar. The latter has arisen out of grants under leases of reduced assessment, made by the Afghan government to Pathan settlers, and is now equivalent to the assignment of a fixed proportion of the revenue to the alienees. Jagir lands are found in every taluka of the Rohri subdivision, and in a small portion of the Shikarpur subdivision, amounting altogether to 479 square miles. The first survey settlement was introduced into the District between 1862 and 1873, and has been revised every ten years. The survey rates at present in force are : garden land, Rs. 4-2 (maximum Rs. 6-8 and minimum Rs. 3) ; rice land, Rs. 4-2 (maximum Rs. 5 and mini- mum Rs. 3) ; 'dry' land, Rs. 2-11 (maximum Rs. 3-8 and minimum Rs. 1-12).
Collections on account of land revenue and revenue from all sources have been, in thousands of rupees : —
There are five municipalities in the District : Sukkur, Shikarpur, Ghari Yasin, Rohri, and Ghotki. The local affairs of the rest of the District are managed by the District board at Sukkur and seven tdluka boards, with receipts of more than 1.2 lakhs in 1903-4. The expenditure in the same year was likewise 1.2 lakhs, of which about Rs. 50,000 was spent on roads and buildings. The principal source of income is the land cess.
The District Superintendent of police has an Assistant Superinten- dent and four inspectors. There are 13 police stations in the District. The total number of police is 712, of whom 11 are chief constables, 115 head constables, and 586 constables.
The District jail at Shikarpur has accommodation for 433 prisoners. A new District jail is now being built at Sukkur town. There are six subsidiary jails, with accommodation for 108 prisoners. The total daily average number of prisoners in 1904 was 439, of whom 5 were females.
The District stands last but one among the twenty-four Districts ot the Presidency in respect of the literacy of its population, of whom 1.7 per cent. (5.7 males and 0.9 females) are able to read and write. In 1880-1 there were 104 schools with an attendance of 7,087 pupils. The number of passes rose to 19,738 in 1891 and to 26,388 in 1901 before the formation of Larkana District. In 1903-4 there were 466 schools with 17,485 pupils. Of these institutions, one is a high school, six are middle schools, and two are technical and other special schools.
The high school and a Saturday afternoon drawing-class for masters are supported by Government, iii schools are managed by the local and municipal boards, 170 are aided, and one is unaided. The expenditure incurred on education is about 3/2 lakhs, of which Rs. 21,000 is derived from fees. Of the total amount, 67 per cent, is devoted to primary schools.
Besides several private medical institutions, there are three hospitals and six dispensaries in the District, with accommodation for 132 in-patients. In these institutions, 96,980 cases were treated in 1904, of whom 1,441 were in-patients, and 4,536 operations were performed. The total expenditure was Rs. 23,800, of which Rs. 12,900 was contributed by the local boards and municipalities.
The number of persons successfully vaccinated in 1903-4 was 15,751, representing a proportion of 30 per 1,000, which exceeds the average for the Presidency.
[A. W. Hughes, Gazetteer of the Provifice of Sin d (1876).]
