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Title: The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir
Author: Douie, James McCrone, Sir, 1854-1935
Language: English
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PROVINCE, AND KASHMIR***
Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed between tilde characters was in bold face
in the original book (~this text is bold~).
THE PANJAB, NORTH-WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE AND KASHMIR
by
SIR JAMES DOUIE, M.A., K.C.S.I.
Seema Publications
Seema Publications C-3/19, R. P. Bagh, Delhi-110007.
First Indian Edition 1974
Printed in India at Deluxe Offset Press, Daya Basti, Delhi-110035 and
Published by Seema Publications, Delhi-110007.
EDITOR'S PREFACE
In his opening chapter Sir James Douie refers to the fact that the area
treated in this volume--just one quarter of a million square miles--is
comparable to that of Austria-Hungary. The comparison might be extended;
for on ethnographical, linguistic and physical grounds, the geographical
unit now treated is just as homogeneous in composition as the Dual
Monarchy. It is only in the political sense and by force of the ruling
classes, temporarily united in one monarch, that the term
_Osterreichisch_ could be used to include the Poles of Galicia, the
Czechs of Bohemia and Moravia, the Szeklers, Saxons and more numerous
Rumanians of Transylvania, the Croats, Slovenes and Italians of
"Illyria," with the Magyars of the Hungarian plain.
The term _Punjábi_ much more nearly, but still imperfectly, covers the
people of the Panjáb, the North-West Frontier Province, Kashmír and the
associated smaller Native States. The Sikh, Muhammadan and Hindu Jats,
the Kashmírís and the Rájputs all belong to the tall, fair, leptorrhine
Indo-Aryan main stock of the area, merging on the west and south-west
into the Biluch and Pathán Turko-Iranian, and fringed in the hill
districts on the north with what have been described as products of the
"contact metamorphism" with the Mongoloid tribes of Central Asia. Thus,
in spite of the inevitable blurring of boundary lines, the political
divisions treated together in this volume, form a fairly clean-cut
geographical unit.
Sir James Douie, in this work, is obviously living over again the happy
thirty-five years which he devoted to the service of North-West India:
his accounts of the physiography, the flora and fauna, the people and
the administration are essentially the personal recollections of one who
has first studied the details as a District Officer and has afterwards
corrected his perspective, stage by stage, from the successively higher
view-point of a Commissioner, the Chief Secretary, Financial
Commissioner, and finally as Officiating Lieut.-Governor. No one could
more appropriately undertake the task of an accurate and
well-proportioned thumb-nail sketch of North-West India and, what is
equally important to the earnest reader, no author could more obviously
delight in his subject.
T. H. H.
ALDERLEY EDGE,
_March 9th, 1916._
NOTE BY AUTHOR
My thanks are due to the Government of India for permission to use
illustrations contained in official publications. Except where otherwise
stated the numerous maps included in the volume are derived from this
source. My obligations to provincial and district gazetteers have been
endless. Sir Thomas Holdich kindly allowed me to reproduce some of the
charts in his excellent book on _India_. The accuracy of the sections on
geology and coins may be relied on, as they were written by masters of
these subjects, Sir Thomas Holland and Mr R. B. Whitehead, I.C.S.
Chapter XVII could not have been written at all without the help
afforded by Mr Vincent Smith's _Early History of India_. I have
acknowledged my debts to other friends in the "List of Illustrations."
J. M. D.
_8 May 1916._
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. Areas and Boundaries 1
II. Mountains, Hills, and Plains 8
III. Rivers 32
IV. Geology and Mineral Resources 50
V. Climate 64
VI. Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees 71
VII. Forests 86
VIII. Beasts, Birds, Fishes, and Insects 90
IX. The People: Numbers, Races, and Languages 96
X. The People: Religions 114
XI. The People: Education 122
XII. Roads and Railways 127
XIII. Canals 132
XIV. Agriculture and Crops 142
XV. Handicrafts and Manufactures 152
XVI. Exports and Imports 159
XVII. History: Pre-Muhammadan Period, 500 B.C.-1000 A.D. 160
XVIII. History: Muhammadan Period, 1000 A.D.-1764 A.D. 168
XIX. History: Sikh Period, 1764 A.D.-1849 A.D. 181
XX. History: British Period, 1849 A.D.-1913 A.D. 188
XXI. Archaeology and Coins 200
XXII. Administration: General 212
XXIII. Administration: Local 217
XXIV. Revenue and Expenditure 219
XXV. Panjáb Districts and Delhi 224
XXVI. The Panjáb Native States 271
XXVII. The North-west Frontier Province 291
XXVIII. Kashmír and Jammu 314
XXIX. Cities 325
XXX. Other Places of Note 347
TABLES
I. Tribes of Panjáb including Native States and of
N.W.F. Province 359
II. Rainfall, Cultivation, Population, and Land
Revenue 360
III. Agricultural Diagrams 362
IV. Crops 364
V. Revenue and Expenditure of Panjáb 366
Index 367
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
1. Arms of Panjáb 1
2. Orographical Map (Holdich's _India_) 9
3. Nanga Parvat (Watson's _Gazetteer of Hazára_) 11
4. Burzil Pass (Sir Aurel Stein) 13
5. Rotang Pass (J. Coldstream) 15
6. Mt Haramukh (Sir Aurel Stein) 16
7. R. Jhelam in Kashmír--View towards Mohand Marg
(Sir Aurel Stein) 18
8. Near Náran in Kágan Glen, Hazára (Watson's
_Gazetteer of Hazára_) 19
9. Muztagh-Karakoram and Himalayan Ranges in
Kashmír (Holdich's _India_) 21
10. The Khaibar Road (Holdich's _India_) 23
11. Panjáb Rivers (Holdich's _India_) 33
12. The Indus at Attock (Sir Aurel Stein) 37
13. Indus at Kafirkot, D.I. Khán dt. (Sir Aurel Stein) 38
14. Fording the River at Lahore (E. B. Francis) 42
15. Biás at Manálí (J. Coldstream) 44
16. Rainfall of different Seasons (Blanford) 62, 63
17. Average Barometric and Wind Chart for January
(Blanford) 65
18. Average Barometric and Wind Chart for July
(Blanford) 66
19. Banian or Bor trees (Sir Aurel Stein) 75
20. Deodárs and Hill Temple (J. Coldstream) 80
21. Firs in Himálaya (J. Coldstream) 82
22. Chinárs (Sir Aurel Stein) 83
23. Rhododendron campanulatum (J. Coldstream) 84
24. Big Game in Ladákh 92
25. Yáks (J. Coldstream) 93
26. Black Buck 95
27. Map showing density of population (_Panjáb Census
Report_, 1911) 97
28. Map showing increase and decrease of population
(_Panjáb Census Report_, 1911) 98
29. Map showing density of population in N.W.F.
Province (_N.W. Provinces Census Report_, 1911) 99
30. Map showing density of population in Kashmír
(_Kashmír Census Report_, 1911) 100
31. Jat Sikh Officers (Nand Rám) 103
32. Blind Beggar (E. B. Francis) 107
33. Dards (Sir Aurel Stein) 108
34. Map showing races (from _The People of India_,
by Sir Herbert Risley. With permission of
W. Thacker and Co., London) 109
35. Map showing distribution of languages (_Panjáb
Census Report_, 1911) 111
36. Map showing distribution of religions (_Panjáb
Census Report_, 1911) 115
37. Raghunáth Temple, Jammu 116
38. Golden Temple, Amritsar (Mrs B. Roe) 117
39. Mosque in Lahore City (E. B. Francis) 118
40. God and Goddess, Chamba (H.H. the Rája of
Chamba) 120
41. A Kulu godling and his attendants (J. Coldstream) 121
42. A School in the time preceding annexation 124
43. Poplar lined road to Srínagar (Miss M. B. Douie) 128
44. Map showing railways 129
45. Map--Older Canals 134
46. Map--Canals 137
47. Map of Canals of Pesháwar district 141
48. Persian Wheel Well and Ekka (Sir Aurel Stein) 143
49. A drove of goats--Lahore (E. B. Francis) 144
50. A steep bit of hill cultivation, Hazára (Watson's
_Gazetteer of Hazára_) 146
51. Preparing rice field in the Hills (J. Coldstream) 147
52. Carved doorway (Sir Aurel Stein) 151
53. Shoemaker's craft (Baden Powell _Panjáb Manufactures_) 153
54. Carved windows (Sir Aurel Stein) 155
55. Papier maché work of Kashmír (Baden Powell
_Panjáb Manufactures_) 156
56. The Potter 157
57. Coin--obverse and reverse of Menander 163
58. Mártand Temple (Miss Griffiths) 166
59. Bába Nának and the Musician Mardána 174
60. Guru Govind Singh 176
61. Mahárája Ranjít Singh 182
62. Mahárája Kharak Singh 185
63. Nao Nihál Singh 185
64. Mahárája Sher Singh 185
65. Zamzama Gun (E. B. Francis) 187
66. Sir John Lawrence (from picture in National Portrait
Gallery) 189
67. John Nicholson's Monument at Delhi (Lady Douie) 190
68. Sir Robert Montgomery 191
69. Panjáb Camels at Lahore (E. B. Francis) 193
70. Sir Charles Aitchison (Bourne and Shepherd) 194
71. Sir Denzil Ibbetson (Albert Jenkins) 198
72. Sir Michael O'Dwyer (R. Rámlál Bhairulál and Son) 199
73. Group of Chamba Temples (H.H. the Rája of Chamba) 201
74. Payer Temple--Kashmír (Sir Aurel Stein) 202
75. Reliquary (Government of India) 203
76. Colonnade in Kuwwat ul Islám Mosque 204
77. Kutb Minár (Miss M. B. Douie) 205
78. Tomb of Emperor Tughlak Sháh (Miss M. B. Douie) 206
79. Jama Masjid, Delhi 207
80. Tomb of Humáyun (Miss M. B. Douie) 207
81. Bádsháhí Mosque, Lahore (E. B. Francis) 208
82. Coins 210
83. Skeleton District Map of Panjáb 223
84. Delhi Enclave 225
85. Hissár district with portions of the Phulkian States
etc. 226
86. Rohtak district 228
87. Gurgáon district 230
88. Karnál district 231
89. Ambála district with Kalsia 233
90. Kángra district 235
91. Biás at Manálí (J. Coldstream) 237
92. Religious Fair in Kulu (J. Coldstream) 238
93. Kulu Women (J. Coldstream) 239
94. Hoshyárpur district 240
95. Jalandhar district and Kapurthala 242
96. Ludhiána district and adjoining Native States 243
97. Ferozepore district and Farídkot 244
98. Gurdáspur district 246
99. Siálkot district 247
100. Gujránwála district 248
101. Amritsar district 250
102. Lahore district 251
103. Gujrát district 252
104. Jhelam district 254
105. Ráwalpindí district 255
106. Shop in Murree Bazár (Lady Douie) 256
107. Attock district 257
108. Mianwálí district 259
109. Sháhpur district 261
110, Montgomery district 263
111. Lyallpur district 264
112. Jhang district 265
113. Multán district 266
114. Muzaffargarh district 268
115. Dera Ghází Khán district 269
116. Mahárája of Patiála (C. Vandyk) 272
117. Mahárája of Jínd 277
118. Mahárája Sir Hira Singh of Nábha (Bourne and
Shepherd) 278
119. Mahárája of Kapúrthala 279
120. Rája of Farídkot (Julian Rust) 280
121. Nawáb of Baháwalpur 281
122. Native States of Chamba, Mandí, Suket, Biláspur 284
123. Rája Surindar Bikram Parkásh of Sirmúr 285
124. Rája of Chamba (F. Bremner) 287
125. Bashahr (Sketch Map by H. W. Emerson) 289
126. Sir Harold Deane (F. Bremner) 292
127. North-west Frontier Province 293
128. Dera Ismail Khán district 294
129. Bannu district 295
130. Kohát district 297
131. Pesháwar district 298
132. Hazára district 300
133. Sir George Roos Keppel (Maull and Fox) 303
134. Tribal Territory north of Pesháwar 304
135. Tribal Territory to west of N.W.F. Province 308
136. Khaibar Rifles 310
137. North Wazíristán Militia and Border Post 313
138. Mahárája of Kashmír 315
139. Jammu and Kashmír 316
140. Takht i Sulimán in Winter (Sir Aurel Stein) 318
141. Ladákh Hills (Mrs Wynyard Brown) 320
142. Zojilá Pass (Mrs Wynyard Brown) 322
143. Delhi Mutiny Monument 327
144. Kashmír Gate, Delhi 328
145. Map of Delhi City 329
146. Darbár Medal 334
147. Street in Lahore (E. B. Francis) 336
148. Sháhdara 338
149. Trans-border traders in Pesháwar 343
150. Mosque of Sháh Hamadán (F. Bremner) 345
Map of territories of Mahárája of Jammu and Kashmír _at end of volume_
Map of Panjáb _at end of volume_
CHAPTER I
AREAS AND BOUNDARIES
~Introductory.~--Of the provinces of India the Panjáb must always have a
peculiar interest for Englishmen. Invasions by land from the west have
perforce been launched across its great plains. The English were the
first invaders who, possessing sea power, were able to outflank the
mountain ranges which guard the north and west of India. Hence the
Panjáb was the last, and not the first, of their Indian conquests, and
the courage and efficiency of the Sikh soldiery, even after the guiding
hand of the old Mahárája Ranjít Singh was withdrawn, made it also one of
the hardest. The success of the early administration of the province,
which a few years after annexation made it possible to use its resources
in fighting men to help in the task of putting down the mutiny, has
always been a matter of just pride, while the less familiar story of the
conquests of peace in the first sixty years of British rule may well
arouse similar feelings.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Arms of Panjáb.]
~Scope of work.~--A geography of the Panjáb will fitly embrace an account
also of the North-West Frontier Province, which in 1901 was severed
from it and formed into a separate administration, of the small area
recently placed directly under the government of India on the transfer
of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, and of the native states in
political dependence on the Panjáb Government. It will also be
convenient to include Kashmír and the tribal territory beyond the
frontier of British India which is politically controlled from Pesháwar.
The whole tract covers ten degrees of latitude and eleven of longitude.
The furthest point of the Kashmír frontier is in 37° 2' N., which is
much the same as the latitude of Syracuse. In the south-east the Panjáb
ends at 27° 4' N., corresponding roughly to the position of the
southernmost of the Canary Islands. Lines drawn west from Pesháwar and
Lahore would pass to the north of Beirut and Jerusalem respectively.
Multán and Cairo are in the same latitude, and so are Delhi and
Teneriffe. Kashmír stretches eastwards to longitude 80° 3' and the
westernmost part of Wazíristán is in 69° 2' E.
~Distribution of Area.~--The area dealt with is roughly 253,000 square
miles. This is but two-thirteenths of the area of the Indian Empire, and
yet it is less by only 10,000 square miles than that of Austria-Hungary
including Bosnia and Herzegovina. The area consists of:
sq. miles
(1) The Panjáb 97,000
(2) Native States dependent on Panjáb Government 36,500
(3) Kashmír 81,000
(4) North West Frontier Province 13,000
(5) Tribal territory under the political control of the Chief
Commissioner of North West Frontier Province, roughly 25,500
Approximately 136,000 square miles may be classed as highlands and
117,000 as plains, and these may be distributed as follows over the
above divisions:
Highlands Plains
sq. miles sq. miles
(1) Panjáb, British 11,000 86,000
(2) Panjáb, Native States 12,000 24,500
(3) Kashmír 81,000 --
(4) North West Frontier Province 6,500 6,500
(5) Tribal Territory 25,500 --
On the north the highlands include the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan
(Siwálik) tracts to the south and east of the Indus, and north of that
river the Muztagh-Karakoram range and the bleak salt plateau beyond that
range reaching almost up to the Kuenlun mountains. To the west of the
Indus they include those spurs of the Hindu Kush which run into Chitrál
and Dir, the Buner and Swát hills, the Safed Koh, the Wazíristán hills,
the Sulimán range, and the low hills in the trans-Indus districts of the
North West Frontier Province.
~Boundary with China.~--There is a point to the north of Hunza in Kashmír
where three great mountain chains, the Muztagh from the south-east, the
Hindu Kush from the south-west, and the Sarikol (an offshoot of the
Kuenlun) from the north-east, meet. It is also the meeting-place of the
Indian, Chinese, and Russian empires and of Afghánistán. Westwards from
this the boundary of Kashmír and Chinese Turkestán runs for 350 miles
(omitting curves) through a desolate upland lying well to the north of
the Muztagh-Karakoram range. Finally in the north-east corner of Kashmír
the frontier impinges on the great Central Asian axis of the Kuenlun.
From this point it turns southwards and separates Chinese Tibet from the
salt Lingzi Thang plains and the Indus valley in Kashmír, and the
eastern part of the native state of Bashahr, which physically form a
portion of Tibet.
~Boundary with United Provinces.~--The south-east corner of Bashahr is a
little to the north of the great Kedárnáth peak in the Central Himálaya
and of the source of the Jamna. Here the frontier strikes to the west
dividing Bashahr from Teri Garhwál, a native state under the control of
the government of the United Provinces. Turning again to the south it
runs to the junction of the Tons and Jamna, separating Teri Garhwál from
Sirmúr and some of the smaller Simla Hill States. Henceforth the Jamna
is with small exceptions the boundary between the Panjáb and the United
Provinces.
~Boundary with Afghánistán.~--We must now return to our starting-point at
the eastern extremity of the Hindu Kush, and trace the boundary with
Afghánistán. The frontier runs west and south-west along the Hindu Kush
to the Dorah pass dividing Chitrál from the Afghán province of Wakhan,
and streams which drain into the Indus from the head waters of the Oxus.
At the Dorah pass it turns sharply to the south, following a great spur
which parts the valley of the Chitrál river (British) from that of its
Afghán affluent, the Bashgol. Below the junction of the two streams at
Arnawai the Chitrál changes its name and becomes the Kunar. Near this
point the "Durand" line begins. In 1893 an agreement was made between
the Amir Abdurrahman and Sir Mortimer Durand as representative of the
British Government determining the frontier line from Chandak in the
valley of the Kunar, twelve miles north of Asmar, to the Persian border.
Asmar is an Afghán village on the left bank of the Kunar to the south of
Arnawai. In 1894 the line was demarcated along the eastern watershed of
the Kunar valley to Nawakotal on the confines of Bajaur and the country
of the Mohmands.
Thence the frontier, which has not been demarcated, passes through the
heart of the Mohmand country to the Kábul river and beyond it to our
frontier post in the Khaibar at Landikhána.
From this point the line, still undemarcated, runs on in a
south-westerly direction to the Safed Koh, and then strikes west along
it to the Sikarám mountain near the Paiwar Kotal at the head of the
Kurram valley. From Sikarám the frontier runs south and south-east
crossing the upper waters of the Kurram, and dividing our possessions
from the Afghán province of Khost. This line was demarcated in 1894.
At the south of the Kurram valley the frontier sweeps round to the west
leaving in the British sphere the valley of the Tochí. Turning again to
the south it crosses the upper waters of the Tochí and passes round the
back of Wazíristán by the Shawal valley and the plains about Wána to
Domandí on the Gomal river, where Afghánistán, Biluchistán, and the
North West Frontier Province meet. The Wazíristán boundary was
demarcated in 1895.
~Political and Administrative Boundaries.~--The boundary described above
defines spheres of influence, and only in the Kurram valley does it
coincide with that of the districts for whose orderly administration we
hold ourselves responsible. All we ask of Wazírs, Afrídís, or Mohmands
is to leave our people at peace; we have no concern with their quarrels
or blood feuds, so long as they abide in their mountains or only leave
them for the sake of lawful gain. Our administrative boundary, which
speaking broadly we took over from the Sikhs, usually runs at the foot
of the hills. A glance at the map will show that between Pesháwar and
Kohát the territory of the independent tribes comes down almost to the
Indus. At this point the hills occupied by the Jowákí section of the
Afrídí tribe push out a great tongue eastwards. Our military frontier
road runs through these hills, and we actually pay the tribesmen of the
Kohát pass for our right of way. Another tongue of tribal territory
reaches right down to the Indus, and almost severs the Pesháwar and
Hazára districts. Further north the frontier of Hazára lies well to the
east of the Indus.
~Frontier with Biluchistán.~--At Domandí the frontier turns to the east,
and following the Gomal river to its junction with the Zhob at Kajúrí
Kach forms the boundary of the two British administrations. Henceforth
the general direction of the line is determined by the trend of the
Sulimán range. It runs south to the Vehoa pass, where the country of the
Patháns of the North West Frontier Province ends and that of the Hill
and Plain Biluches subject to the Panjáb Government begins. From the
Vehoa pass to the Kahá torrent the line is drawn so as to leave Biluch
tribes with the Panjáb and Pathán tribes with the Biluchistán Agency.
South of the Kahá the division is between Biluch tribes, the Marrís and
Bugtís to the west being managed from Quetta, and the Gurchánís and
Mazárís, who are largely settled in the plains, being included in Dera
Gházi Khán, the trans-Indus district of the Panjáb. At the south-west
corner of the Dera Ghází Khán district the Panjáb, Sind, and Biluchistán
meet. From this point the short common boundary of the Panjáb and Sind
runs east to the Indus.
~The Southern Boundary.~--East of the Indus the frontier runs south-east
for about fifty miles parting Sind from the Baháwalpur State, till a
point is reached where Sind, Rájputána, and Baháwalpur join. A little
further to the east is the southern extremity of Baháwalpur at 70° 8' E.
and 27° 5' N. From this point a line drawn due east would at a distance
of 370 miles pass a few miles to the north of the south end of Gurgaon
and a few miles to the south of the border of the Narnaul tract of
Patiála. Between Narnaul and the south-east corner of the Baháwalpur
State the great Rájputána desert, mainly occupied in this quarter by
Bikaner, thrusts northwards a huge wedge reaching almost up to the
Sutlej. To the west of the wedge is Baháwalpur and to the east the
British district of Hissár. The apex is less than 100 miles from Lahore,
while a line drawn due south from that city to latitude 27'5° north
would exceed 270 miles in length. The Jaipur State lies to the south and
west of Narnaul, while Gurgaon has across its southern frontiers Alwar
and Bharatpur, and near the Jamna the Muttra district of the United
Provinces.
CHAPTER II
MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS
~The Great Northern Rampart.~--The huge mountain rampart which guards the
northern frontier of India thrusts out in the north-west a great bastion
whose outer walls are the Hindu Kush and the Muztagh-Karakoram ranges.
Behind the latter with a general trend from south-east to north-west are
the great valley of the Indus to the point near Gilgit where it turns
sharply to the south, and a succession of mountain chains and glens
making up the Himalayan tract, through which the five rivers of the
Panjáb and the Jamna find their way to the plains. To meet trans-Indus
extensions of the Himálaya the Hindu Kush pushes out from its main axis
great spurs to the south, flanking the valleys which drain into the
Indus either directly or through the Kábul river.
~The Himálaya.~--Tibet, which from the point of view of physical geography
includes a large and little known area in the Kashmír State to the north
of the Karakoram range, is a lofty, desolate, wind swept plateau with a
mean elevation of about 15,000 feet. In the part of it situated to the
north of the north-west corner of Nipál lies the Manasarowar lake, in
the neighbourhood of which three great Indian rivers, the Tsanpo or
Brahmapútra, the Sutlej, and the Indus, take their rise. The Indus flows
to the north-west for 500 miles and then turns abruptly to the south to
seek its distant home in the Indian Ocean. The Tsanpo has a still
longer course of 800 miles eastwards before it too bends southwards to
flow through Assam into the Bay of Bengal. Between the points where
these two giant rivers change their direction there extends for a
distance of 1500 miles the vast congeries of mountain ranges known
collectively as the "Himálaya" or "Abode of Snow." As a matter of
convenience the name is sometimes confined to the mountains east of the
Indus, but geologically the hills of Buner and Swát to the north of
Pesháwar probably belong to the same system. In Sanskrit literature the
Himalaya is also known as "Himavata," whence the classical Emodus.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Orographical Map.]
~The Kumáon Himálaya.~--The Himálaya may be divided longitudinally into
three sections, the eastern or Sikkim, the mid or Kumáon, and the
north-western or Ladákh. With the first we are not concerned. The Kumáon
section lies mainly in the United Provinces, but it includes the sources
of the Jamna, and contains the chain in the Panjáb which is at once the
southern watershed of the Sutlej and the great divide between the two
river systems of Northern India, the Gangetic draining into the Bay of
Bengal, and the Indus carrying the enormous discharge of the north-west
Himálaya, the Muztagh-Karakoram, and the Hindu Kush ranges into the
Indian Ocean. Simla stands on the south-western end of this watershed,
and below it the Himálaya drops rapidly to the Siwálik foot-hills and to
the plains. Jakko, the _deodár_-clad hill round which so much of the
life of the summer capital of India revolves, attains a height of 8000
feet. The highest peak within a radius of 25 miles of Simla is the Chor,
which is over 12,000 feet high, and does not lose its snow cap till May.
Hattu, the well-known hill above Narkanda, which is 40 miles from Simla
by road, is 1000 feet lower. But further west in Bashahr the higher
peaks range from 16,000 to 22,000 feet.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Nanga Parvat.]
~The Inner Himálaya or Zánskar Range.~--The division of the Himálaya into
the three sections named above is convenient for descriptive purposes.
But its chief axis runs through all the sections. East of Nipál it
strikes into Tibet not very far from the source of the Tsanpo, is soon
pierced by the gorge of the Sutlej, and beyond it forms the southern
watershed of the huge Indus valley. In the west this great rampart is
known as the Zánskar range. For a short distance it is the boundary
between the Panjáb and Kashmír, separating two outlying portions of the
Kángra district, Lahul and Spití, from Ladákh. In this section the peaks
are from 19,000 to 21,000 feet high, and the Baralácha pass on the road
from the Kulu valley in Kángra to Leh, the capital of Ladákh, is at an
elevation of about 16,500 feet. In Kashmír the Zánskar or Inner Himálaya
divides the valley of the Indus from those of the Chenáb and Jhelam. It
has no mountain to dispute supremacy with Everest (29,000 feet), or
Kinchinjunga in the Eastern Himálaya, but the inferiority is only
relative. The twin peaks called Nun and Kun to the east of Srínagar
exceed 23,000 feet, and in the extreme north-west the grand mountain
mass of Nanga Parvat towers above the Indus to a height of 26,182 feet.
The lowest point in the chain is the Zojilá (11,300 feet) on the route
from Srínagar, the capital of Kashmír, to Leh on the Indus
The road from Srínagar to Gilgit passes over the Burzil pass at an
elevation of 13,500 feet.
The Zojilá is at the top of the beautiful valley of the Sind river, a
tributary of the Jhelam. The lofty Zánskar range blocks the inward flow
of the monsoon, and once the Zojilá is crossed the aspect of the country
entirely changes. The land of forest glades and green pastures is left
behind, and a region of naked and desolate grandeur begins.
"The waste of snow ... is the frontier of barren Tibet, where sandy
wastes replace verdant meadows, and where the wild ridges, jutting
up against the sky, are kept bare of vegetation, their strata
crumbling under the destructive action of frost and water, leaving
bare ribs of gaunt and often fantastic outline.... The colouring of
the mountains is remarkable throughout Ladákh and nowhere more so
than near the Fotulá (a pass on the road to Leh to the south of the
Indus gorge).... As we ascend the peaks suggest organ pipes, so
vertical are the ridges, so jagged the ascending outlines. And each
pipe is painted a different colour ... pale slate green, purple,
yellow, grey, orange, and chocolate, each colour corresponding with
a layer of the slate, shale, limestone, or trap strata" (Neve's
_Picturesque Kashmir_, pp. 108 and 117).
[Illustration: Fig. 4. Burzil Pass.]
In all this desolation there are tiny oases where level soil and a
supply of river water permit of cultivation and of some tree growth.
~Water divide near Baralácha and Rotang Passes in Kulu.~--We have seen
that the Indus and its greatest tributary, the Sutlej, rise beyond the
Himálaya in the Tibetan plateau. The next great water divide is in the
neighbourhood of the Baralácha pass and the Rotang pass, 30 miles to the
south of it. The route from Simla to Leh runs at a general level of 7000
to 9000 feet along or near the Sutlej-Jamna watershed to Narkanda (8800
feet). Here it leaves the Hindustán-Tibet road and drops rapidly into
the Sutlej gorge, where the Lurí bridge is only 2650 feet above sea
level. Rising steeply on the other side the Jalaurí pass on the
watershed between the Sutlej and the Biás is crossed at an elevation of
10,800 feet. A more gradual descent brings the traveller to the Biás at
Lárjí, 3080 feet above sea level. The route then follows the course of
the Biás through the beautiful Kulu valley to the Rotang pass (13,326
feet), near which the river rises. The upper part of the valley is
flanked on the west by the short, but very lofty Bara Bangáhal range,
dividing Kulu from Kángra and the source of the Biás from that of the
Ráví. Beyond the Rotang is Lahul, which is divided by a watershed from
Spití and the torrents which drain into the Sutlej. On the western side
of this watershed are the sources of the Chandra and Bhága, which unite
to form the river known in the plains as the Chenáb.
~Mid Himálaya or Pangí Range.~--The Mid Himálayan or Pangí range, striking
west from the Rotang pass and the northern end of the Bara Bangáhal
chain, passes through the heart of Chamba dividing the valley of the
Chenáb (Pangí) from that of the Ráví. After entering Kashmír it crosses
the Chenáb near the Kolahoi cone (17,900 feet) and the head waters of
the Jhelam. Thence it continues west over Haramukh (16,900 feet), which
casts its shadow southwards on the Wular lake, to the valley of the
Kishnganga, and probably across it to the mountains which flank the
magnificent Kágan glen in Hazâra.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Rotang Pass.]
[Illustration: Fig. 6. Mt Haramukh.]
~Outer Himálaya or Dhauladhár-Pir Panjál Range.~--The Outer Himálaya also
starts from a point near the Rotang pass, but some way to the south of
the offset of the Mid Himalayan chain. Its main axis runs parallel to
the latter, and under the name of the Dhauladhár (white ridge) forms the
boundary of the Chamba State and Kángra, behind whose headquarters, at
Dharmsála it stands up like a huge wall. It has a mean elevation of
15,000 feet, but rises as high as 16,000. It passes from Chamba into
Bhadarwáh in Kashmír, and crossing the Chenáb is carried on as the Pír
Panjál range through the south of that State. With an elevation of only
14,000 or 15,000 feet it is a dwarf as compared with the giants of the
Inner Himalayan and Muztagh-Karakoram chains. But it hides them from the
dwellers in the Panjáb, and its snowy crest is a very striking picture
as seen in the cold weather from the plains of Ráwalpindí, Jhelam, and
Gujrát. The Outer Himálaya is continued beyond the gorges of the Jhelam
and Kishnganga rivers in Kajnág and the hills of the Hazára district.
Near the eastern extremity of the Dhauladhár section of the Outer
Himálaya it sends out southwards between Kulu and Mandí a lower
offshoot. This is crossed by the Babbu (9480 feet) and Dulchí passes,
connecting Kulu with Kángra through Mandí. Geologically the Kulu-Mandí
range appears to be continued to the east of the Biás and across the
Sutlej over Hattu and the Chor to the hills near Masúrí (Mussoorie), a
well-known hill station in the United Provinces. Another offshoot at the
western end of the Dhauladhár passes through the beautiful hill station
of Dalhousie, and sinks into the low hills to the east of the Ráví,
where it leaves Chamba and enters the British district of Gurdáspur.
~River Valleys and Passes in the Himálaya.~--While these principal chains
can be traced from south-east to north-west over hundreds of miles it
must be remembered that the Himálaya is a mountain mass from 150 to 200
miles broad, that the main axes are linked together by subsidiary cross
chains dividing the head waters of great rivers, and flanked by long and
lofty ridges running down at various angles to the gorges of these
streams and their tributaries. The typical Himalayan river runs in a
gorge with mountains dipping down pretty steeply to its sides. The lower
slopes are cultivated, but the land is usually stony and uneven, and as
a whole the crops are not of a high class. The open valleys of the
Jhelam in Kashmír and of the Biás in Kulu are exceptions. Passes in the
Himálaya are not defiles between high cliffs, but cross the crest of a
ridge at a point where the chain is locally depressed, and snow melts
soonest. In the Outer and Mid Himálaya the line of perpetual snow is at
about 16,000 feet, but for six months of the year the snow-line comes
down 5000 feet lower. In the Inner Himálaya and the Muztagh-Karakoram,
to which the monsoon does not penetrate, the air is so dry that less
snow falls and the line is a good deal higher.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. R. Jhelam in Kashmír--View towards Mohand Marg.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8. Near Náran in Kágan Glen, Hazára.]
~Himalayan Scenery.~--Certain things strike any observant traveller in the
Himálaya. One is the comparative absence of running or still water,
except in the height of the rainy season, away from the large rivers.
The slope is so rapid that ordinary falls of rain run off with great
rapidity. The mountain scenery is often magnificent and the forests are
beautiful, but the absence of water robs the landscape of a charm which
would make it really perfect. Where this too is present, as in the
valley of the Biás in Kulu and those of the Jhelam and its tributaries
in Kashmír and Hazára, the eye has its full fruition of content.
Another is the silence of the forests. Bird and beast are there, but
they are little in evidence. A third feature which can hardly be missed
is the contrast between the northern and the southern slopes. The former
will often be clothed with forest while the latter is a bare stony slope
covered according to season with brown or green grass interspersed with
bushes of indigo, barberry, or the hog plum (Prinsepia utilis). The
reason is that the northern side enjoys much more shade, snow lies
longer, and the supply of moisture is therefore greater. The grazier for
the same reason is less tempted to fire the hill side in order to
promote the growth of grass, a practice which is fatal to all forest
growth. The rich and varied flora of the Himálaya will be referred to
later.
~Muztagh-Karakoram Ranges.~--The Muztagh-Karakoram mountains form the
northern watershed of the Indus. The range consists of more than one
main axis. The name Karakoram is appropriated to the eastern part of the
system which originates at E. longitude 79° near the Pangong lake in the
Tibetan plateau a little beyond the boundary of Kashmír. Beyond the
Karakoram pass (18,550 ft.) is a lofty bleak upland with salt lakes
dotted over its surface. Through this inhospitable region and over the
Karakoram pass and the Sasser-lá (17,500 ft.) the trade route from
Yarkand to Leh runs. The road is only open for three months in the year,
and the dangers and hardships are great. In 1898 Dr Bullock Workman and
his wife marched along it across the Shyok river, up the valley of the
Nubra, and over the Sasser-lá to the Karakoram pass. The scenery is an
exaggeration of that described by Dr Neve as seen on the road from the
Zoji-lá to Leh. There is a powerful picture of its weird repellent
grandeur in the Workmans' book entitled _In the Ice World of Himálaya_
(pp. 28-29, 30-32). The poet who had found ideas for a new Paradiso in
the Vale of Kashmír might here get suggestions for a new Inferno.
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Muztagh-Karakoram and Himalayan Ranges in
Kashmír.]
The Karakoram range culminates in the north-west near the Muztagh pass
in a group of majestic peaks including K 2 or Mount Godwin Austen
(28,265 feet), Gasherbrum, and Masherbrum, which tower over and feed the
vast Boltoro glacier. The first of these giants is the second largest
mountain in the world. The Duke of the Abruzzi ascended it to the height
of 24,600 feet, and so established a climbing record. The Muztagh chain
carries on the northern bastion to the valley of the Hunza river and
the western extremity of the Hindu Kush. It has several peaks exceeding
25,000 feet. The most famous is Rakiposhi which looks down on Hunza from
a height of 25,550 feet.
~The Hindu Kush.~--The Muztagh chain from the south-east, the Sarikol from
the north-east, and the Hindu Kush from the south-west, meet at a point
to the north of Hunza. The last runs westward and south-westward for
about 200 miles to the Dorah pass (14,800 feet), separating the valleys
which drain into the Indus from the head waters of the Oxus, and Hunza
and Gilgit in Kashmír and Chitrál in British India from the Afghán
province of Wakhan. The highest point in the main axis, Sad Istragh
(24,171 feet), is in this section. But the finest mountain scenery in
the Hindu Kush is in the great spurs it thrusts out southwards to flank
the glens which feed the Gilgit and Chitrál rivers. Tirach Mír towers
above Chitrál to a height of 25,426 feet. From Tibet to the Dorah pass
the northern frontier of India is impregnable. It is pierced by one or
two difficult trade routes strewn with the bones of pack animals, but no
large army has ever marched across it for the invasion of India. West of
the Dorah pass the general level of the Hindu Kush is a good deal lower
than that of its eastern section. The vital point in the defences of
India in this quarter lies near Charikár to the north of Kábul, where
the chain thins out, and three practicable passes debouch on the valley
of the Kábul river. It is this fact that gives the town of Kábul its
great strategic importance. The highest of the three passes, the Kaoshan
or Hindu Kush (dead Hindu), crosses the chain at an elevation of 14,340
feet. It took its own name from the fate that befel a Hindu army when
attempting to cross it, and has handed it on to the whole range. It is
the pass which the armies of Alexander and Bábar used. The historical
road for the invasion of India on this side has been by Charikár and the
valley of the Kábul river to its junction with the Kunar below
Jalálábád, thence up the Kunar valley and over one of the practicable
passes which connect its eastern watershed with the Panjkora and Swát
river valleys, whence the descent on Pesháwar is easy. This is the route
by which Alexander led the wing of the Grecian army which he commanded
in person, and the one followed by Bábar in 1518-19. Like Alexander,
Bábar fought his way through Bajaur, and crossed the Indus above Attock.
[Illustration: Fig. 10. The Khaibar Road.]
~The Khaibar.~--A British force advancing on Kábul from Pesháwar has never
marched by the Kunar and Kábul valley route. It has always taken the
Khaibar road, which only follows the Kabul river for less than one-third
of the 170 miles which separate Pesháwar from the Amir's capital. The
military road from Pesháwar to Landikhána lies far to the south of the
river, from which it is shut off by difficult and rugged country held by
the Mohmands.
~Safed Koh.~--From Landikhána the political boundary runs south-west to
the Safed Koh (white mountain) and is continued westwards along that
range to the Paiwar Kotal or pass (8450 feet). The Safed Koh forms the
watershed of the Kábul and Kurram rivers. It is a fine pine clad chain
with a general level of 12,000 feet, and its skyline is rarely free from
snow. It culminates in the west near Paiwar Kotal in Sikarám (15,620
feet). To the west of the Pesháwar and Kohát districts is a tangle of
hills and valleys formed by outlying spurs of the Safed Koh. This
difficult country is in the occupation of Afrídís and Orakzais, who are
under our political control.
~The Kurram Valley.~--The line of advance into Afghánistán through the
Kurram valley is easy, and Lord Roberts used it when he marched towards
Kábul in 1898. After the war we annexed the valley, leaving however the
head waters of the Kurram in Afghán territory. The road to Kábul leaves
the river far to the south before it crosses our frontier at Paiwar
Kotal.
~Wazíristán Hills.~--Between the Kurram valley and the Gomal river is a
large block of very rough mountainous country known as Wazíristán from
the turbulent clan which occupies it. In the north it is drained by the
Tochí. Westwards of the Tochí valley the country rises into lofty
mountains. The upper waters of the Tochí and its affluents drain two
fine glens known as Birmal and Shawal to the west of the country of the
Mahsud Wazírs. The Tochí valley is the direct route from India to
Ghazní, and nine centuries ago, when that decayed town was the capital
of a powerful kingdom, it must often have heard the tramp of armed men.
The loftiest peaks in Wazíristán, Shuidár (11,000 feet) and Pírghal
(11,600 feet), overhang Birmal. Further south, Wána, our post in
south-west Wazíristán, overlooks from its plateau the Gomal valley.
~The Gomal Pass as a trade route.~--East of Kajúrí Kach the Gomal flows
through tribal territory to the Gomal pass from which it debouches into
the plains of the Dera Ismail Khán district. "The Gomal route is the
oldest of all trade routes. Down it there yearly pours a succession of
_káfilas_ (caravans) led and followed up by thousands of well-armed
Pathán traders, called Powindahs, from the plains of Afghánistán to
India. The Powindahs mostly belong to the Ghilzai tribes, and are not
therefore true Afgháns[1]. Leaving their women and children encamped
within British territory on our border, and their arms in the keeping of
our frontier political officials, the Powindah makes his way southwards
with his camel loads of fruit and silk, bales of camel and goat hair or
sheepskin goods, carpets and other merchandise from Kábul and Bokhára,
and conveys himself through the length and breadth of the Indian
peninsula.... He returns yearly to the cool summits of the Afghán hills
and the open grassy plains, where his countless flocks of sheep and
camels are scattered for the summer grazing" (Holdich's _India_, pp.
80-81).
~Physical features of hilly country between Pesháwar and the Gomal
river.~--The physical features of the hill country between Pesháwar and
the Gomal pass may best be described in the words of Sir Thomas Holdich:
"Natural landscape beauty, indeed, may here be measured to a
certain extent by altitude. The low ranges of sun-scorched,
blackened ridge and furrow formation which form the approaches to
the higher altitudes of the Afghán upland, and which are almost as
regularly laid out by the hand of nature in some parts of the
frontier as are the parallels ... of the engineer who is besieging
a fortress--these are by no means 'things of beauty,' and it is
this class of formation and this form of barren desolation that is
most familiar to the frontier officer.... Shades of delicate purple
and grey will not make up for the absence of the living green of
vegetation.... But with higher altitudes a cooler climate and
snow-fed soil is found, and as soon as vegetation grasps a
root-hold there is the beginning of fine scenery. The upper
pine-covered slopes of the Safed Koh are as picturesque as those of
the Swiss Alps; they are crowned by peaks whose wonderful altitudes
are frozen beyond the possibility of vegetation, and are usually
covered with snow wherever snow can lie. In Wazíristán, hidden away
in the higher recesses of its great mountains, are many valleys of
great natural beauty, where we find the spreading poplar and the
ilex in all the robust growth of an indigenous flora.... Among the
minor valleys Birmal perhaps takes precedence by right of its
natural beauty. Here are stretches of park-like scenery where
grass-covered slopes are dotted with clumps of _deodár_ and pine
and intersected with rivulets hidden in banks of fern; soft green
glades open out to view from every turn in the folds of the hills,
and above them the silent watch towers of Pírghal and Shuidár ...
look down from their snow-clad heights across the Afghán uplands to
the hills beyond Ghazní." (Holdich's _India_, pp. 81-82.)
~The Sulimán Range.~--A well-marked mountain chain runs from the Gomal to
the extreme south-west corner of the Dera Ghází Khán district where the
borders of Biluchistán, Sind, and the Panjáb meet. It culminates forty
miles south of the Gomal in the fine Kaisargarh mountain (11,295 feet),
which is a very conspicuous object from the plains of the Deraját. On
the side of Kaisargarh there is a shrine called Takht i Sulimán or
Throne of Solomon, and this is the name by which Englishmen usually know
the mountain, and which has been passed on to the whole range.
Proceeding southwards the general elevation of the chain drops
steadily. But Fort Munro, the hill station of the Dera Ghází Khán
district, 200 miles south of the Takht, still stands 6300 feet above sea
level, and it looks across at the fine peak of Ekbhai, which is more
than 1000 feet higher. In the south of the Dera Ghází Khán district the
general level of the chain is low, arid the Giandári hill, though only
4160 feet above the sea, stands out conspicuously. Finally near where
the three jurisdictions meet the hills melt into the Kachh Gandáva
plain. Sir Thomas Holdich's description of the rugged Pathán hills
applies also to the Sulimán range. Kaisargarh is a fine limestone
mountain crowned by a forest of the edible _chilgoza_ pine. But the
ordinary tree growth, where found at all, is of a much humbler kind,
consisting of gnarled olives and dwarf palms.
~Passes and torrents in Sulimán Hills.~--The drainage of the western
slopes of the Sulimán range finding no exit on that side has had to wear
out ways for itself towards the plains which lie between the foot of the
hills and the Indus. This is the explanation of the large number of
passes, about one hundred, which lead from the plains into the Sulimán
hills. The chief from north to south are the Vehoa, the Sangarh, the
Khair, the Kahá, the Cháchar, and the Sirí, called from the torrents
which flow through them to the plains. There is an easy route through
the Cháchar to Biluchistán. But unfortunately the water of the torrent
is brackish.
~Sub Himálaya or Siwáliks.~--In its lowest ridges the Himálaya drops to a
height of about 5000 feet. But the traveller to any of the summer
resorts in the mountains passes through a zone of lower hills
interspersed sometimes with valleys or "duns." These consist of Tertiary
sandstones, clays, and boulder conglomerates, the débris in fact which
the Himálaya has dropped in the course of ages. To this group of hills
and valleys the general name of Siwáliks is given. East of the Jhelam it
includes the Náhan hills to the north of Ambála, the low hills of
Kángra, Hoshyárpur, Gurdáspur, and Jammu, and the Pábbí hills in Gujrát.
But it is to the west of the Jhelam that the system has its greatest
extension. Practically the whole of the soil of the plains of the
Attock, Ráwalpindi, and Jhelam districts consists of disintegrated
Siwálik sandstone, and differs widely in appearance and agricultural
quality from the alluvium of the true Panjáb plains. The low hills of
these districts belong to the same system, but the Salt Range is only in
part Siwálik. Altogether Siwálik deposits in the Panjáb cover an area of
13,000 square miles. Beyond the Indus the hills of the Kohát district
and a part of the Sulimán range are of Tertiary age.
~The Great Panjáb Plain.~--The passage from the highlands to the plains is
as a rule abrupt, and the contrast between the two is extraordinary.
This is true without qualification of the tract between the Jamna and
the Jhelam. It is equally true of British districts west of the Jhelam
and south of the Salt Range and of lines drawn from Kálabágh on the west
bank of the Indus southwards to Paniála and thence north-west through
the Pezu pass to the Wazíristán hills. In all that vast plain, if we
except the insignificant hills in the extreme south-west of the province
ending to the north in the historic ridge at Delhi, some hillocks of
gneiss near Toshám in Hissár, and the curious little isolated rocks at
Kirána, Chiniot, and Sángla near the Chenáb and Jhelam, the only
eminences are petty ridges of windblown sand and the "_thehs_" or mounds
which represent the accumulated débris of ancient village sites. At the
end of the Jurassic period and later this great plain was part of a sea
bed. Far removed as the Indian ocean now is the height above sea level
of the Panjáb plain east of the Jhelam is nowhere above 1000 feet. Delhi
and Lahore are both just above the 700 feet line. The hills mentioned
above are humble time-worn outliers of the very ancient Aravalli system,
to which the hills of Rájputána belong. Kirána and Sángla were already
of enormous age, when they were islands washed by the waves of the
Tertiary sea. A description of the different parts of the vast Panjáb
plain, its great stretches of firm loam, and its tracts of sand and sand
hills, which the casual observer might regard as pure desert, will be
given in the paragraphs devoted to the different districts.
~The Salt Range.~--The tract west of the Jhelam, and bounded on the south
by the Salt Range cis-Indus, and trans-Indus by the lines mentioned
above, is of a more varied character. Time worn though the Salt Range
has become by the waste of ages, it still rises at Sakesar, near its
western extremity, to a height of 5000 feet. The eastern part of the
range is mostly in the Jhelam district, and there the highest point is
Chail (3700 feet). The hill of Tilla (3242 feet), which is a marked
feature of the landscape looking westwards from Jhelam cantonment, is on
a spur running north-east from the main chain. The Salt Range is poorly
wooded, the dwarf acacia or _phuláhí_ (Acacia modesta), the olive, and
the _sanattha_ shrub (Dodonea viscosa) are the commonest species. But
these jagged and arid hills include some not infertile valleys, every
inch of which is put under crop by the crowded population. To geologists
the range is of special interest, including as it does at one end of the
scale Cambrian beds of enormous antiquity and at the other rocks of
Tertiary age. Embedded in the Cambrian strata there are great deposits
of rock salt at Kheora, where the Mayo mine is situated. At Kálabágh
the Salt Range reappears on the far side of the Indus. Here the salt
comes to the surface, and its jagged pinnacles present a remarkable
appearance.
~Country north of the Salt Range.~--The country to the north of the Salt
Range included in the districts of Jhelam, Ráwalpindí, and Attock is
often ravine-bitten and seamed with the white sandy beds of torrents.
Generally speaking it is an arid precarious tract, but there are fertile
stretches which will be mentioned in the descriptions of the districts.
The general height of the plains north of the Salt Range is from 1000
feet to 2000 feet above sea level. The rise between Lahore and
Ráwalpindí is just over a thousand feet. Low hills usually form a
feature of the landscape, pleasing at a distance or when softened by the
evening light, but bare and jagged on a nearer view. The chief hills are
the Márgalla range between Hazára and Ráwalpindí, the Kálachitta and the
Khairimurat hills running east and west through Attock and the very dry
and broken Narrara hills on the right bank of the Indus in the same
district. Between the Márgalla and Kálachitta hills is the Márgalla pass
on the main road from Ráwalpindí to the passage of the Indus at Attock,
and therefore a position of considerable strategical importance. The
Kálachitta (black and white) chain is so called because the north side
is formed of nummulitic limestone and the south mainly of a dark purple
sandstone. The best tree-growth is therefore on the north side.
~Pesháwar, Kohát, and Bannu.~--Across the Indus the Pesháwar and Bannu
districts are basins ringed with hills and drained respectively by the
Kábul and Kurram rivers with their affluents. Between these two basins
lies the maze of bare broken hills and valleys which make up the Kohát
district. The cantonment of Kohát is 1700 feet above sea level and no
hill in the district reaches 5000 feet. Near the Kohát border in the
south-west of the Pesháwar district are the Khattak hills, the
culmination of which at Ghaibana Sir has a height of 5136 feet, and the
military sanitarium of Cherát in the same chain is 600 feet lower. On
the east the Maidáni hills part Bannu from Isakhel, the trans-Indus
_tahsíl_ of Mianwáli, and on the south the Marwat hills divide it from
Dera Ismail Khán. Both are humble ranges. The highest point in the
Marwat hills is Shekhbudín, a bare and dry limestone rock rising to an
elevation of over 4500 feet.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: They are held to be of Turkish origin.]
CHAPTER III
RIVERS
~The Panjáb Rivers.~--"Panjáb" is a Persian compound word, meaning "five
waters," and strictly speaking the word denotes the country between the
valley of the Jhelam and that of the Sutlej. The intermediate rivers
from west to east are the Chenáb, the Ráví, and the Biás. Their combined
waters at last flow into the Panjnad or "five rivers" at the south-west
corner of the Multán district, and the volume of water which 44 miles
lower down the Panjnad carries into the Indus is equal to the discharge
of the latter. The first Aryan settlers knew this part of India as the
land of the seven rivers (_sapla sindhavas_), adding to the five
mentioned above the Indus and the Sarasvatí. The old Vedic name is more
appropriate than Panjáb if we substitute the Jamna for the Sarasvatí or
Sarustí, which is now a petty stream.
[Illustration: Fig. 11. Panjáb Rivers.]
~River Valleys.~--The cold weather traveller who is carried from Delhi to
Ráwalpindí over the great railway bridges at points chosen because there
the waters of the rivers are confined by nature, or can be confined by
art, within moderate limits, has little idea of what one of these rivers
is like in flood time. He sees that, even at such favoured spots,
between the low banks there is a stretch of sand far exceeding in width
the main channel, where a considerable volume of water is running, and
the minor depressions, in which a sluggish and shallow flow may still
be found. If, leaving the railway, he crosses a river by some bridge of
boats or local ferry, he will find still wider expanses of sand
sometimes bare and dry and white, at others moist and dark and covered
with dwarf tamarisk. He may notice that, before he reaches the sand and
the tamarisk scrub, he leaves by a gentle or abrupt descent the dry
uplands, and passes into a lower, greener, and perhaps to his
inexperienced eye more fertile seeming tract. This is the valley, often
miles broad, through which the stream has moved in ever-shifting
channels in the course of centuries. He finds it hard to realize that,
when the summer heats melt the Himalayan snows, and the monsoon
currents, striking against the northern mountain walls, are precipitated
in torrents of rain, the rush of water to the plains swells the river
20, 30, 40, or even 50 fold. The sandy bed then becomes full from bank
to bank, and the silt laden waters spill over into the cultivated
lowlands beyond. Accustomed to the stable streams of his own land, he
cannot conceive the risks the riverside farmer in the Panjáb runs of
having fruitful fields smothered in a night with barren sand, or lands
and well and house sucked into the river-bed. So great and sudden are
the changes, bad and good, wrought by river action that the loss and
gain have to be measured up year by year for revenue purposes. Nor is
the visitor likely to imagine that the main channel may in a few seasons
become a quite subsidiary or wholly deserted bed. Like all streams, e.g.
the Po, which flow from the mountains into a flat terrain, the Panjáb
rivers are perpetually silting up their beds, and thus, by their own
action, becoming diverted into new channels or into existing minor ones,
which are scoured out afresh. If our traveller, leaving the railway at
Ráwalpindi, proceeds by tonga to the capital of Kashmír, he will find
between Kohála and Báramúla another surprise awaiting him. The noble but
sluggish river of the lowlands, which he crossed at the town of Jhelam,
is here a swift and deep torrent, flowing over a boulder bed, and
swirling round waterworn rocks in a gorge hemmed in by mountains. That
is the typical state of the Himalayan rivers, though the same Jhelam
above Báramúla is an exception, flowing there sluggishly through a very
flat valley into a shallow lake.
~The Indus Basin.~--The river Sindh (Sanskrit, Sindhu), more familiar to
us under its classical name of the Indus, must have filled with
astonishment every invader from the west, and it is not wonderful that
they called after it the country that lay beyond. Its basin covers an
area of 373,000 square miles. Confining attention to Asia these figures,
large though they seem, are far exceeded by those of the Yangtsze-Kiang.
The area of which a description is attempted in this book is, with the
exception of a strip along the Jamna and the part of Kashmír lying
beyond the Muztagh-Karakoram range, all included in the Indus basin. But
it does not embrace the whole of it. Part is in Tibet, part in
Afghánistán and Biluchistán, and part in Sindh, through which province
the Indus flows for 450 miles, or one-quarter of its whole course of
1800 miles. It seems likely that the Jamna valley was not always an
exception, or at least that that river once flowed westwards through
Rájputána to the Indian ocean. The five great rivers of the Panjáb all
drain into the Indus, and the Ghagar with its tributary, the Sarustí,
which now, even when in flood, loses itself in the sands of Bikaner,
probably once flowed down the old Hakra bed in Baháwalpur either into
the Indus or by an independent bed now represented by an old flood
channel of the Indus in Sindh, the Hakro or Nara, which passes through
the Rann of Kachh.
~The Indus outside British India.~--To the north of the Manasarowar lake
in Tibet is Kailás, the Hindu Olympus. On the side of this mountain the
Indus is said to rise at a height of 17,000 feet. After a course of 200
miles or more it crosses the south-east boundary of the Kashmír State at
an elevation of 13,800 feet. From the Kashmír frontier to Mt Haramosh
west of Gilgit it flows steadily to the north-west for 350 miles. After
125 miles Leh, the capital of Ladákh, is reached at a height of 10,500
feet, and here the river is crossed by the trade route to Yarkand. A
little below Leh the Indus receives the Zánskar, which drains the
south-east of Kashmír. After another 150 miles it flows through the
basin, in which Skardo, the principal town in Baltistán, is situated.
Above Skardo a large tributary, the Shyok, flows in from the east at an
elevation of 8000 feet. The Shyok and its affluent, the Nubra, rise in
the giant glaciers to the south-west of the Karakoram pass. After the
Skardo basin is left behind the descent is rapid. The river rushes down
a tremendous gorge, where it appears to break through the western
Himálaya, skirts Haramosh, and at a point twenty-five miles east of
Gilgit bends abruptly to the south. Shortly after it is joined from the
west by the Gilgit river, and here the bed is about 4000 feet above sea
level. Continuing to flow south for another twenty miles it resumes its
westernly course to the north of Nanga Parvat and persists in it for 100
miles. Our political post of Chilás lies in this section on the south
bank. Fifty or sixty miles west of Chilás the Indus turns finally to the
south. From Jálkot, where the Kashmír frontier is left, to Palosí below
the Mahaban mountain it flows for a hundred miles through territory over
which we only exercise political control. Near Palosí, 812 miles from
the source, the river enters British India. In Kashmír the Indus and the
Shyok in some places flow placidly over alluvial flats, and at others
with a rapid and broken current through narrow gorges. At Skardo their
united stream is said, even in winter, to be 500 feet wide and nine or
ten feet deep. If one of the deep gorges, as sometimes happens, is
choked by a landslip, the flood that follows when the barrier finally
bursts may spread devastation hundreds of miles away. To the north of
the fertile Chach plain in Attock there is a wide stretch of land along
the Indus, which still shows in its stony impoverished soil the effects
of the great flood of 1841.
[Illustration: Fig. 12. The Indus at Attock.]
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Indus at Káfirkot, D.I. Khán dt.]
~The Indus in British India.~--After reaching British India the Indus soon
becomes the boundary dividing Hazára and Pesháwar, two districts of the
North West Frontier Province. Lower down it parts Pesháwar from the
Panjáb district of Attock. In this section after a time the hills recede
on both sides, and the stream is wide and so shallow that it is fordable
in places in the cold weather. There are islands, ferry boats and rafts
can ply, and the only danger is from sudden freshets. Ohind, where
Alexander crossed, is in this section. A more famous passage is at
Attock just below the junction of the Kábul river. Here the heights
again approach the Indus on either bank. The volume of water is vastly
increased by the union of the Kábul river, which brings down the whole
drainage of the southern face of the Hindu Kush. From the north it
receives near Jalálábád the Kunar river, and near Charsadda in Pesháwar
the Swát, which with its affluent the Panjkora drains Dír, Bajaur, and
Swát. In the cold weather looking northwards from the Attock fort one
sees the Kábul or Landai as a blue river quietly mingling with the
Indus, and in the angle between them a stretch of white sand. But during
floods the junction is the scene of a wild turmoil of waters. At Attock
there are a railway bridge, a bridge of boats, and a ferry. The bed of
the stream is 2000 feet over sea level. For ninety miles below Attock
the river is confined between bare and broken hills, till it finally
emerges into the plains from the gorge above Kálabágh, where the Salt
Range impinges on the left bank. Between Attock and Kálabágh the right
bank is occupied by Pesháwar and Kohát and the left by Attock and
Mianwálí. In this section the Indus is joined by the Haro and Soán
torrents, and spanned at Khushálgarh by a railway bridge. This is the
only other masonry bridge crossing it in the Panjáb. Elsewhere the
passage has to be made by ferry boats or by boat bridges, which are
taken down in the rainy season. At Kálabágh the height above sea level
is less than 1000 feet. When it passes the western extremity of the Salt
Range the river spreads out into a wide lake-like expanse of waters. It
has now performed quite half of its long journey. Henceforth it receives
no addition from the east till the Panjnad in the south-west corner of
the Muzaffargarh district brings to it the whole tribute of the five
rivers of the Panjáb. Here, though the Indian ocean is still 500 miles
distant, the channel is less than 300 feet above the sea. From the west
it receives an important tributary in the Kurram, which, with its
affluent the Tochí, rises in Afghánistán. The torrents from the Sulimán
Range are mostly used up for irrigation before they reach the Indus, but
some of them mingle their waters with it in high floods. Below Kálabágh
the Indus is a typical lowland river of great size, with many sandy
islands in the bed and a wide valley subject to its inundations.
Opposite Dera Ismail Khán the valley is seventeen miles across. As a
plains river the Indus runs at first through the Mianwálí district of
the Panjáb, then divides Mianwálí from Dera Ismail Khán, and lastly
parts Muzaffargarh and the Baháwalpur State from the Panjáb frontier
district of Dera Ghází Khán.
~The Jhelam.~--The Jhelam, the most westernly of the five rivers of the
Panjáb, is called the Veth in Kashmir and locally in the Panjáb plains
the Vehat. These names correspond to the Bihat of the Muhammadan
historians and the Hydaspes of the Greeks, and all go back to the
Sanskrit Vitasta. Issuing from a deep pool at Vernág to the east of
Islámábád in Kashmír it becomes navigable just below that town, and
flows north-west in a lazy stream for 102 miles through Srínagar, the
summer capital, into the Wular lake, and beyond it to Báramúla. The
banks are quite low and often cultivated to the river's edge. But across
the flat valley there is on either side a splendid panorama of
mountains. From Báramúla the character of the Jhelam suddenly changes,
and for the next 70 miles to Kohála, where the traveller crosses by a
fine bridge into the Panjáb, it rushes down a deep gorge, whose sides
are formed by the Kajnág mountains on the right, and the Pír Panjál on
the left, bank. Between Báramúla and Kohála there is a drop from 5000 to
2000 feet. At Domel, the stage before Kohála the Jhelam receives from
the north the waters of the Kishnganga, and lower down it is joined by
the Kunhár, which drains the Kágan glen in Hazára. A little above Kohála
it turns sharply to the south, continuing its character as a mountain
stream hemmed in by the hills of Ráwalpindí on the right bank and of the
Púnch State on the left. The hills gradually sink lower and lower, but
on the left side only disappear a little above the cantonment of Jhelam,
where there is a noble railway bridge. From Jhelam onwards the river is
of the usual plains' type. After dividing the districts of Jhelam (right
bank) and Gujrát (left), it flows through the Sháhpur and Jhang
districts, falling finally into the Chenáb at Trimmu, 450 miles from its
source. There is a second railway bridge at Haranpur on the Sind Ságar
line, and a bridge of boats at Khusháb, in the Sháhpur district. The
noblest and most-varied scenery in the north-west Himalaya is in the
catchment area of the Jhelam. The Kashmír valley and the valleys which
drain into the Jhelam from the north, the Liddar, the Loláb, the Sind,
and the Kágan glen, display a wealth of beauty unequalled elsewhere. Nor
does this river wholly lose its association with beauty in the plains.
Its very rich silt gives the lands on its banks the green charm of rich
crops and pleasant trees.
~The Chenáb.~--The Chenáb (more properly Chínáb or river of China) is the
Asikní of the Vedas and the Akesines of the Greek historians. It is
formed by the union of the Chandra and Bhága, both of which rise in
Lahul near the Báralácha pass. Having become the Chandrabhága the river
flows through Pángí in Chamba and the south-east of Kashmír. Near
Kishtwár it breaks through the Pír Panjál range, and thenceforwards
receives the drainage of its southern slopes. At Akhnúr it becomes
navigable and soon after it enters the Panjáb district of Siálkot. A
little later it is joined from the west by the Tawí, the stream above
which stands Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmír. The Chenáb parts
Siálkot and Gujránwála on the left bank from Gujrát and Sháhpur on the
right. At Wazírábád, near the point where Siálkot, Gujrát, and
Gujránwála meet, it is crossed by the Alexandra railway bridge. Leaving
Sháhpur and Gujránwála behind, the Chenáb flows through Jhang to its
junction with the Jhelam at Trimmu. In this section there is a second
railway bridge at Chund Bharwána. The united stream runs on under the
name of Chenáb to be joined on the north border of the Multán district
by the Ráví and on its southern border by the Sutlej. Below its junction
with the latter the stream is known as the Panjnad. In the plains the
Chenáb cannot be called an attractive river, and its silt is far
inferior to that of the Jhelam.
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Fording the River at Lahore.]
~The Ráví.~--The Ráví was known to the writers of the Vedic hymns as the
Parushní, but is called in classical Sanskrit Irávatí, whence the
Hydraotes of the Greek historians. It rises near the Rotang pass in
Kángra, and flows north-west through the southern part of Chamba. Below
the town of Chamba, it runs as a swift slaty-blue mountain stream, and
here it is spanned by a fine bridge. Passing on to the north of the hill
station of Dalhousie it reaches the Kashmir border, and turning to the
south-west flows along it to Basolí where Kashmír, Chamba, and the
British district of Gurdáspur meet. At this point it is 2000 feet above
the sea level. It now forms the boundary of Kashmír and Gurdáspur, and
finally near Madhopur, where the head-works of the Bárí Doáb canal are
situated, it passes into the Gurdáspur district. Shortly after it is
joined from the north by a large torrent called the Ujh, which rises in
the Jammu hills. After reaching the Siálkot border the Ráví parts that
district first from Gurdáspur and then from Amritsar, and, passing
through the west of Lahore, divides Montgomery and Lyallpur, and flowing
through the north of Multán joins the Chenáb near the Jhang border. In
Multán there is a remarkable straight reach in the channel known as the
Sídhnai, which has been utilized for the site of the head-works of a
small canal. The Degh, a torrent which rises in the Jammu hills and has
a long course through the Siálkot and Gujránwála districts, joins the
Ráví when in flood in the north of the Lyallpur district. But its waters
will now be diverted into the river higher up in order to safeguard the
Upper Chenáb canal. Lahore is on the left bank of the Ráví. It is a mile
from the cold weather channel, but in high floods the waters have often
come almost up to the Fort. At Lahore the North Western Railway and the
Grand Trunk Road are carried over the Ráví by masonry bridges. There is
a second railway bridge over the Sídhnai reach in Multán. Though the
Ráví, like the Jhelam, has a course of 450 miles, it has a far smaller
catchment area, and is really a somewhat insignificant stream. In the
cold weather, the canal takes such a heavy toll from it that below
Mádhopur the supply of water is mainly drawn from the Ujh, and in
Montgomery one may cross the bed dryshod for months together. The valley
of the Ráví is far narrower than those of the rivers described in the
preceding paragraphs, and the floods are most uncertain, but when they
occur are of very great value.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. Biás at Manálí.]
~The Biás.~--The Biás (Sanskrit, Vipasa; Greek, Hyphasis) rises near the
Rotang pass at a height of about 13,000 feet. Its head-waters are
divided from those of the Ráví by the Bara Bangáhal range. It flows for
about sixty miles through the beautiful Kulu valley to Lárjí (3000
feet). It has at first a rapid course, but before it reaches Sultánpur
(4000 feet), the chief village in Kulu, some thirty miles from the
source, it has become, at least in the cold weather, a comparatively
peaceful stream fringed with alder thickets. Heavy floods, however,
sometimes cover fields and orchards with sand and boulders. There is a
bridge at Manálí (6100 feet), a very lovely spot, another below Nagar,
and a third at Lárjí. Near Lárjí the river turns to the west down a bold
ravine and becomes for a time the boundary between Kulu and the Mandí
State. Near the town of Mandí, where it is bridged, it bends again, and
winds in a north-west and westerly direction through low hills in the
south of Kángra till it meets the Siwáliks on the Hoshyárpur border. In
this reach there is a bridge of boats at Dera Gopípur on the main road
from Jalandhar and Hoshyárpur to Dharmsála. Elsewhere in the south of
Kángra the traveller can cross without difficulty on a small bed
supported on inflated skins. Sweeping round the northern end of the
Siwáliks the Biás, having after long parting again approached within
about fifteen miles of the Ráví, turns definitely to the south, forming
henceforth the dividing line between Hoshyárpur and Kapúrthala (left
bank) and Gurdáspur and Amritsar (right). Finally above the Harike ferry
at a point where Lahore, Amritsar, Ferozepur, and Kapúrthala nearly
meet, it falls into the Sutlej. The North Western Railway crosses it by
a bridge near the Biás station and at the same place there is a bridge
of boats for the traffic on the Grand Trunk Road. The chief affluents
are the Chakkí, the torrent which travellers to Dharmsála cross by a
fine bridge twelve miles from the railhead at Pathánkot, and the Black
Bein in Hoshyárpur and Kapúrthala. The latter is a winding drainage
channel, which starts in a swamp in the north of the Hoshyárpur
district. The Biás has a total course of 390 miles. Only for about
eighty miles or so is it a true river of the plains, and its floods do
not spread far.
~The Sutlej.~--The Sutlej is the Shatadru of Vedic hymns and the Zaradros
of Greek writers. The peasant of the Panjáb plains knows it as the Nílí
or Ghara. After the Indus it is the greatest of Panjáb rivers, and for
its source we have to go back to the Manasarowar lakes in Tibet. From
thence it flows for 200 miles in a north-westerly direction to the
British frontier near Shipkí. A little beyond the Spití river brings it
the drainage of the large tract of that name in Kángra and of part of
Western Tibet. From Shipkí it runs for forty miles in deep gorges
through Kunáwar in the Bashahr State to Chíní, a beautiful spot near the
Wangtu bridge, where the Hindustan-Tibet road crosses to the left bank.
A little below Chíní the Báspa flows in from the southeast. The fall
between the source and Chíní is from 15,000 to 7500 feet. There is
magnificent cliff scenery at Rogí in this reach. Forty miles below Chíní
the capital of Bashahr, Rámpur, on the south bank, is only 3300 feet
above sea level. There is a second bridge at Rámpur, and from about this
point the river becomes the boundary of Bashahr and Kulu, the route to
which from Simla passes over the Lurí bridge (2650 feet) below Nárkanda.
Beyond Lurí the Sutlej runs among low hills through several of the Simla
Hill States. It pierces the Siwáliks at the Hoshyárpur border and then
turns to the south, maintaining that trend till Rúpar and the head-works
of the Sirhind canal are reached. For the next hundred miles to the Biás
junction the general direction is west. Above the Harike ferry the
Sutlej again turns, and flows steadily, though with many windings, to
the south-west till it joins the Chenáb at the south corner of the
Multán district. There are railway bridges at Phillaur, Ferozepur, and
Adamwáhan. In the plains the Sutlej districts are--on the right bank
Hoshyárpur, Jalandhar, Lahore, and Montgomery, and on the left Ambála,
Ludhiána and Ferozepur. Below Ferozepur the river divides Montgomery and
Multán from Baháwalpur (left bank). The Sutle; has a course of 900
miles, and a large catchment area in the hills. Notwithstanding the
heavy toll taken by the Sirhind canal, its floods spread pretty far in
Jalandhar and Ludhiána and below the Biás junction many monsoon canals
have been dug which inundate a large area in the lowlands of the
districts on either bank and of Baháwalpur. The dry bed of the Hakra,
which can be traced through Baháwalpur, Bikaner, and Sindh, formerly
carried the waters of the Sutlej to the sea.
~The Ghagar and the Sarusti.~--The Ghagar, once a tributary of the Hakra,
rises within the Sirmúr State in the hills to the east of Kálka. A few
miles south of Kálka it crosses a narrow neck of the Ambála district,
and the bridge on the Ambála-Kalka railway is in this section. The rest
of its course, till it loses itself in the sands of Bikaner, is chiefly
in Patiála and the Karnál and Hissár districts. It is joined by the Umla
torrent in Karnál and lower down the Sarustí unites with it in Patiála
just beyond the Karnál border. It is hard to believe that the Sarustí of
to-day is the famous Sarasvatí of the Vedas, though the little
ditch-like channel that bears the name certainly passes beside the
sacred sites of Thanesar and Pehowa. A small sandy torrent bearing the
same name rises in the low hills in the north-east of the Ambála
district, but it is doubtful if its waters, which finally disappear into
the ground, ever reach the Thanesar channel. That seems rather to
originate in the overflow of a rice swamp in the plains, and in the cold
weather the bed is usually dry. In fact, till the Sarustí receives above
Pehowa the floods of the Márkanda torrent, it is a most insignificant
stream. The Márkanda, when in flood, carries a large volume of water,
and below the junction the small channel of the Sarustí cannot carry the
tribute received, which spreads out into a shallow lake called the
Sainsa _jhíl_. This has been utilized for the supply of the little
Sarustí canal, which is intended to do the work formerly effected in a
rude way by throwing _bands_ or embankments across the bed of the
stream, and forcing the water over the surrounding lands. The same
wasteful form of irrigation was used on a large scale on the Ghagar and
is still practised on its upper reaches. Lower down earthen _bands_ have
been superceded by a masonry weir at Otu in the Hissár district. The
northern and southern Ghagar canals, which irrigate lands in Hissár and
Bikaner, take off from this weir.
~Action of Torrents.~--The Ghagar is large enough to exhibit all the three
stages which a _cho_ or torrent of intermittent flow passes through.
Such a stream begins in the hills with a well-defined boulder-strewn
bed, which is never dry. Reaching the plains the bed of a cho becomes a
wide expanse of white sand, hardly below the level of the adjoining
country, with a thread of water passing down it in the cold weather. But
from time to time in the rainy season the channel is full from bank to
bank and the waters spill far and wide over the fields. Sudden spates
sometimes sweep away men and cattle before they can get across. If, as
in Hoshyárpur, the _chos_ flow into a rich plain from hills composed of
friable sandstone and largely denuded of tree-growth, they are in their
second stage most destructive. After long delay an Act was passed in
1900, which gives the government large powers for the protection of
trees in the Siwáliks and the reclamation of torrent beds in the plains.
The process of recovery cannot be rapid, but a measure of success has
already been attained. It must not be supposed that the action of _chos_
in this second stage is uniformly bad. Some carry silt as well as sand,
and the very light loam which the great Márkanda _cho_ has spread over
the country on its banks is worth much more to the farmer than the stiff
clay it has overlaid. Many _chos_ do not pass into the third stage, when
all the sand has been dropped, and the bed shrinks into a narrow
ditch-like channel with steep clay banks. The inundations of torrents
like the Degh and the Ghagar after this stage is reached convert the
soil into a stiff impervious clay, where flood-water will lie for weeks
without being absorbed into the soil. In Karnál the wretched and
fever-stricken tract between the Ghagar and the Sarustí known as the
Nailí is of this character.
~The Jamna.~--The Jamna is the Yamuna of Sanskrit writers. Ptolemy's and
Pliny's versions, Diamouna and Jomanes, do not deviate much from the
original. It rises in the Kumáon Himálaya, and, where it first meets the
frontier of the Simla Hill States, receives from the north a large
tributary called the Tons. Henceforth, speaking broadly, the Jamna is
the boundary of the Panjáb and the United Provinces. On the Panjáb bank
are from north to south the Sirmúr State, Ambála, Karnál, Rohtak, Delhi,
and Gurgáon. The river leaves the Panjáb where Gurgáon and the district
of Mathra, which belongs to the United Provinces, meet, and finally
falls into the Ganges at Allahábád. North of Mathra Delhi is the only
important town on its banks. The Jamna is crossed by railway bridges
between Delhi and Meerut and between Ambála and Saháranpur.
~Changes in Rivers.~--Allusion has already been made to the changes which
the courses of Panjáb rivers are subject to in the plains. The Indus
below Kálabágh once ran through the heart of what is now the Thal
desert. We know that in 1245 A.D. Multán was in the Sind Ságar Doáb
between the Indus and the united streams of the Jhelam, Chenáb, and
Ráví. The Biás had then no connection with the Sutlej, but ran in a bed
of its own easily to be traced to-day in the Montgomery and Multán
districts, and joined the Indus between Multán and Uch. The Sutlej was
still flowing in the Hakra bed. Indeed its junction with the Biás near
Harike, which probably led to a complete change in the course of the
Biás, seems only to have taken place within the last 150 years[2].
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 2: Raverty's "The Mehran of Sind and its Tributaries," in
_Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal_, 1897.]
CHAPTER IV
GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES
~Extent of Geological Record.~--Although the main part of the Panjáb plain
is covered by a mantle of comparatively recent alluvium, the provinces
described in this book display a more complete record of Indian
geological history than any other similar area in the country. The
variety is so great that no systematic or sufficient description could
be attempted in a short chapter, and it is not possible, therefore, to
do more in these few pages than give brief sketches of the patches of
unusual interest.
~Aravallí System.~--In the southern and south-eastern districts of the
Panjáb there are exposures of highly folded and metamorphosed rocks
which belong to the most ancient formations in India. These occupy the
northern end of the Aravallí hills, which form but a relic of what must
have been at one time a great mountain range, stretching roughly
south-south-west through Rájputána into the Bombay Presidency. The
northern ribs of the Aravallí series disappear beneath alluvial cover in
the Delhi district, but the rocks still underlie the plains to the west
and north-west, their presence being revealed by the small promontories
that peep through the alluvium near the Chenáb river, standing up as
small hills near Chiniot in the Sháhpur, Jhang, and Lyallpur districts.
The Salt Range in the Jhelam and Sháhpur districts, with a western
continuation in the Mianwálí district to and beyond the Indus, is the
most interesting part of the Panjáb to the geologist. It contains
notable records of three distinct eras in geological history. In
association with the well-known beds of rock-salt, which are being
extensively mined at Kheora, occur the most ancient fossiliferous
formations known in India, corresponding in age with the middle and
lower part of the Cambrian system of Europe. These very ancient strata
immediately overlie the red marls and associated rock-salt beds, and it
is possible that they have been thrust over bodily to occupy this
position, as we have no parallel elsewhere for the occurrence of great
masses of salt in formation older than the Cambrian.
The second fragment of geological history preserved in the Salt Range is
very much younger, beginning with rocks which were formed in the later
part of the Carboniferous period. The most remarkable feature in this
fragment is a boulder-bed, resting unconformably on the Cambrian strata
and including boulders of various shapes and sizes, which are often
faceted and striated in a way indicative of glacial action. Several of
the boulders belong to rocks of a peculiar and unmistakable character,
such as are found _in situ_ on the western flanks of the Aravallí Range,
some 750 miles to the south. The glacial conditions which gave rise to
these boulder-beds were presumably contemporaneous with those that
produced the somewhat similar formation lying at the base of the great
coal-bearing system in the Indian peninsula. The glacial boulder-bed
thus offers indirect evidence as to the age of the Indian coal-measures,
for immediately above this bed in the Salt Range there occur sandstones
containing fossils which have affinities with the Upper Carboniferous
formations of Australia, and on these sandstones again there lie
alternations of shales and limestones containing an abundance of fossils
that are characteristic of the Permo-Carboniferous rocks of Russia.
These are succeeded by an apparently conformable succession of beds of
still younger age, culminating in a series of shales, sandstones, and
limestones of unmistakably Triassic age.
There is then an interruption in the record, and the next younger series
preserved occurs in the western part of the Salt Range as well as in the
hills beyond the Indus. This formation is of Upper Jurassic age,
corresponding to the well-known beds of marine origin preserved in
Cutch. Then follows again a gap in the record, and the next most
interesting series of formations found in the Salt Range become of great
importance from the economic as well as from the purely scientific point
of view; these are the formations of Tertiary age.
The oldest of the Tertiary strata include a prominent limestone
containing Nummulitic fossils, which are characteristic of these Lower
Tertiary beds throughout the world. Here, as in many parts of
North-Western India, the Nummulitic limestones are associated with coal
which has been largely worked. The country between the Salt Range
plateau and the hilly region away to the north is covered by a great
stretch of comparatively young Tertiary formations, which were laid down
in fresh water after the sea had been driven back finally from this
region. The incoming of fresh-water conditions was inaugurated by the
formation of beds which are regarded as equivalent in age to those known
as the Upper Nari in Sind and Eastern Baluchistán, but the still later
deposits, belonging to the well-known Siwálik series, are famous on
account of the great variety and large size of many of the vertebrate
fossil remains which they have yielded. In these beds to the north of
the Salt Range there have been found remains of Dinotherium, forms
related to the ancestors of the giraffe and various other mammals, some
of them, like the Sivatherium, Mastodon, and Stegodon, being animals of
great size. On the northern side of the Salt Range three fairly
well-defined divisions of the Siwálik series have been recognised, each
being conspicuously fossiliferous--a feature that is comparatively rare
in the Siwálik hills further to the south-east, where these rocks were
first studied. The Siwálik series of the Salt Range are thus so well
developed that this area might be conveniently regarded as the type
succession for the purpose of correlating isolated fragmentary
occurrences of the same general series in northern and western India. To
give an idea as to the age of these rocks, it will be sufficient to
mention that the middle division of the series corresponds roughly to
the well-known deposits of Pikermi and Samos.
~Kashmir~ deserves special mention, as it is a veritable paradise for the
geologist. Of the variety of problems that it presents one might mention
the petrological questions connected with the intrusion of the great
masses of granite, and their relation to the slates and associated
metamorphic rocks. Of fossiliferous systems there is a fine display of
material ranging in age from Silurian to Upper Trias, and additional
interest is added by the long-continued volcanic eruptions of the
"Panjál trap." Students of recent phenomena have at their disposal
interesting problems in physiography, including a grand display of
glaciers, and the extensive deposits of so-called _karewas_, which
appear to have been formed in drowned valleys, where the normal
fluviatile conditions are modified by those characteristic of lakes. The
occurrence of sapphires in Zánskar gives the State also an interest to
the mineralogist and connoisseur of gem-stones.
Of this kaleidoscopic assemblage of questions the ones of most immediate
interest are connected with the Silurian-Trias succession in the Kashmír
valley, for here we have a connecting-link between the marine formations
of the Salt Range area and those which are preserved in greater
perfection in Spití and other parts of the Tibetan highlands, stretching
away to the south-east at the back of the great range of crystalline
snow-covered peaks.
In this interesting part of Kashmír the most important feature to Indian
geologists is the occurrence of plant remains belonging to genera
identical with those that occur in the lower part of the great
coal-bearing formation of Peninsular India, known as the Gondwána
system. Until these discoveries were made in Kashmír about ten years ago
the age of the base of the Gondwánas was estimated only on indirect
evidence, partly due to the assumption that glacial conditions in the
Salt Range and those at the base of the Gondwánas were contemporaneous,
and partly due to analogy with the coal measures of Australia and South
Africa. In Kashmír the characteristic plant remains of the Lower
Gondwánas are found associated with marine fossils in great abundance,
and these permit of a correlation of the strata with the upper part of
the Carboniferous system of the European standard stratigraphical scale.
Kashmír seems to have been near the estuary of one of the great rivers
that formerly flowed over the ancient continent of _Gondwánaland_ (when
India and South Africa formed parts of one continental mass) into the
great Eurasian Ocean known as _Tethys_. As the deposits formed in this
great ocean give us the principal part of our data for forming a
standard stratigraphical scale, the plants which were carried out to sea
become witnesses of the kind of flora that flourished during the main
Indian coal period; they thus enable us with great precision to fix the
position of the fresh-water Gondwánas in comparison with the marine
succession.
~Spití.~--With á brief reference to one more interesting patch among the
geological records of this remarkable region, space will force us to
pass on to consideration of minerals of economic value. The line of
snow-covered peaks, composed mainly of crystalline rocks and forming a
core to the Himálaya in a way analogous to the granitic core of the
Alps, occupies what was once apparently the northern shore of
Gondwánaland, and to the north of it there stretched the great ocean of
Tethys, covering the central parts of Asia and Europe, one of its
shrunken relics being the present Mediterranean Sea. The bed of this
ocean throughout many geological ages underwent gradual depression and
received the sediments brought down by the rivers from the continent
which stretched away to the south. The sedimentary deposits thus formed
near the shore-line or further out in deep water attained a thickness of
well over 20,000 feet, and have been studied in the _tahsíl_ of Spití,
on the northern border of Kumáon, and again on the eastern Tibetan
plateau to the north of Darjeeling. A reference to the formations
preserved in Spití may be regarded as typical of the geological history
and the conditions under which these formations were produced.
~Succession of Fossiliferous Beds.~--In age the fossiliferous beds range
from Cambrian right through to the Tertiary epoch; between these
extremes no single period was passed without leaving its records in some
part of the great east-to-west Tibetan basin. At the base of the whole
succession there lies a series of schists which have been largely
metamorphosed, and on these rest the oldest of the fossiliferous series,
which, on account of their occurring in the region of snow, has been
named the _Haimanta system_. The upper part of the Haimanta system has
been found to contain the characteristic trilobites of the Cambrian
period of Europe. Over this system lie beds which have yielded in
succession Ordovician and Silurian fossils, forming altogether a compact
division which has been distinguished locally as the _Muth system_. Then
follows the so-called _Kanáwar system_, which introduces Devonian
conditions, followed by fossils characteristic of the well-known
mountain limestone of Europe.
Then occurs a break in the succession which varies in magnitude in
different localities, but appears to correspond to great changes in the
physical geography which widely affect the Indian region. This break
corresponds roughly to the upper part of the Carboniferous system of
Europe, and has been suggested as a datum line for distinguishing in
India an older group of fossiliferous systems below (formed in an area
that has been distinguished by the name _Dravidian_), from the younger
group above, which has been distinguished by the name _Aryan_.
During the periods that followed this interruption the bed of the great
Eurasian Ocean seems to have subsided persistently though
intermittently. As the various sediments accumulated the exact position
of the shore-line must have changed to some extent to give rise to the
conditions favourable for the formation at one time of limestone, at
another of shale and at other times of sandy deposits. The whole column
of beds, however, seems to have gone on accumulating without any folding
movements, and they are consequently now found lying apparently in
perfect conformity stage upon stage, from those that are Permian in age
at the base, right through the Mesozoic group, till the time when
Tertiary conditions were inaugurated and the earth movements began which
ultimately drove back the ocean and raised the bed, with its accumulated
load of sediments, into the great folds that now form the Himálayan
Range. This great mass of Aryan strata includes an enormous number of
fossil remains, giving probably a more complete record of the gradual
changes that came over the marine fauna of Tethys than any other area of
the kind known. One must pass over the great number of interesting
features still left unmentioned, including the grand architecture of the
Sub-Himálaya and the diversity of formations in different parts of the
Frontier Province; for the rest of the available space must be devoted
to a brief reference to the minerals of value.
~Rock-salt~, which occurs in abundance, is possibly the most important
mineral in this area. The deposits most largely worked are those which
occur in the well-known Salt Range, covering parts of the districts of
Jhelam, Sháhpur, and Mianwálí. Near the village of Kheora the main seam,
which is being worked in the Mayo mines, has an aggregate thickness of
550 feet, of which five seams, with a total thickness of 275 feet,
consist of salt pure enough to be placed on the table with no more
preparation than mere pulverising. The associated beds are impregnated
with earth, and in places there occur thin layers of potash and
magnesian salts. In this area salt quarrying was practised for an
unknown period before the time of Akbar, and was continued in a
primitive fashion until it came under the control of the British
Government with the occupation of the Panjáb in 1849. In 1872 systematic
mining operations were planned, and the general line of work has been
continued ever since, with an annual output of roughly 100,000 tons.
Open quarries for salt are developed a short distance to the
east-north-east of Kálabágh on the Indus, and similar open work is
practised near Kohát in the North West Frontier Province, where the
quantity of salt may be regarded as practically inexhaustible. At
Bahádur Khel the salt lies at the base of the Tertiary series, and can
be traced for a distance of about eight miles with an exposed thickness
of over 1000 feet, sometimes standing up as hills of solid salt above
the general level of the plains. In this area the production is
naturally limited by want of transport and the small local demand, the
total output from the quarries being about 16,000 tons per annum. A
small quantity of salt (generally about 4000 tons a year), is raised
also from open quarries in the Mandí State, where the rock-salt beds,
distinctly impure and earthy, lie near the junction between Tertiary
formations and the older unfossiliferous groups.
~Coal~ occurs at numerous places in association with the Nummulitic
limestones of Lower Tertiary age, in the Panjáb, in the North West
Frontier Province, and in the Jammu division of Kashmír. The largest
output has been obtained from the Salt Range, where mines have been
opened up on behalf of the North Western Railway. The mines at Dandot in
the Jhelam district have considerable fluctuations in output, which,
however, for many years ranged near 50,000 tons. These mines, having
been worked at a financial loss, were finally abandoned by the Railway
Company in 1911, but a certain amount of work is still being continued
by local contractors. At Bháganwála, 19 miles further east, in the
adjoining district of Sháhpur, coal was also worked for many years for
the North Western State Railway, but the maximum output in any one year
never exceeded 14,000 tons, and in 1900, owing to the poor quality of
material obtained, the collieries were closed down. Recently, small
outcrop workings have been developed in the same formation further west
on the southern scarp of the Salt Range at Tejuwála in the Sháhpur
district.
~Gold~ to a small amount is washed from the gravel of the Indus and some
other rivers by native workers, and large concessions have been granted
for systematic dredging, but these enterprises have not yet reached the
commercially paying stage.
~Other Metals.~--Prospecting has been carried on at irregular intervals in
Kulu and along the corresponding belt of schistose rocks further west in
Kashmír and Chitrál. The copper ores occur as sulphides along certain
bands in the chloritic and micaceous schists, similar in composition and
probably in age to those worked further east in Kumáon, in Nipál, and in
Sikkim. In Lahul near the Shigrí glacier there is a lode containing
~antimony~ sulphide with ores of ~zinc~ and ~lead~, which would almost
certainly be opened up and developed but for the difficulty of access
and cost of transport to the only valuable markets.
~Petroleum~ springs occur among the Tertiary formations of the Panjáb and
Biluchistán, and a few thousand gallons of oil are raised annually.
Prospecting operations have been carried on vigorously during the past
two or three years, but no large supplies have so far been proved. The
principal oil-supplies of Burma and Assam have been obtained from rocks
of Miocene age, like those of Persia and the Caspian region, but the
most promising "shows" in North West India have been in the older
Nummulitic formations, and the oil is thus regarded by some experts as
the residue of the material which has migrated from the Miocene beds
that probably at one time covered the Nummulitic formations, but have
since been removed by the erosive action of the atmosphere.
~Alum~ is manufactured from the pyritous shales of the Mianwálí district,
the annual output being generally about 200 to 300 tons. Similar shales
containing pyrites are known to occur in other parts of this area, and
possibly the industry might be considerably extended, as the annual
requirements of India, judged by the import returns, exceed ten times
the native production of alum.
~Borax~ is produced in Ladákh and larger quantities are imported across
the frontier from Tibet. In the early summer one frequently meets herds
of sheep being driven southwards across the Himalayan passes, each sheep
carrying a couple of small saddle-bags laden with borax or salt, which
is bartered in the Panjáb bazars for Indian and foreign stores for the
winter requirements of the snow-blocked valleys beyond the frontier.
~Sapphires.~--The sapphires of Zánskar have been worked at intervals since
the discovery of the deposit in 1881, and some of the finest stones in
the gem market have been obtained from this locality, where work is,
however, difficult on account of the great altitude and the difficulty
of access from the plains.
~Limestone.~--Large deposits of Nummulitic limestone are found in the
older Tertiary formations of North-West India. It yields a pure lime and
is used in large quantities for building purposes. The constant
association of these limestones with shale beds, and their frequent
association with coal, naturally suggest their employment for the
manufacture of cement; and special concessions have recently been given
by the Panjáb Government with a view of encouraging the development of
the industry. The nodular impure limestone, known generally by the name
of _kankar_, contains sufficient clay to give it hydraulic characters
when burnt, and much cement is thus manufactured. The varying
composition of _kankar_ naturally results in a product of irregular
character, and consequently cement so made can replace Portland cement
only for certain purposes.
~Slate~ is quarried in various places for purely local use. In the Kángra
valley material of very high quality is obtained and consequently
secures a wide distribution, limited, however, by competition with
cheaply made tiles.
~Gypsum~ occurs in large quantities in association with the rock-salt of
the Salt Range, but the local demand is small. There are also beds of
potash and magnesian salts in the same area, but their value and
quantity have not been thoroughly proved.
[Illustration: January-February.]
[Illustration: March to May.]
_Normal Rainfall._
I. N.W.F. Province. II. Kashmir.
III. Panjáb E. and N. IV. Panjáb S.W.
Fig. 16. Rainfall of different Seasons.
[Illustration: June to September.]
[Illustration: October to December.]
_Normal Rainfall._
I. N.W.F. Province II. Kashmir.
III. Panjáb E. and N. IV. Panjáb S.W.
Fig. 16 (_cont._). Rainfall of different Seasons.
CHAPTER V
CLIMATE
~Types of Climate.~--The climate of the Panjáb plains is determined by
their distance from the sea and the existence of formidable mountain
barriers to the north and west. The factor of elevation makes the
climate of the Himalayan tracts very different from that of the plains.
Still more striking is the contrast between the Indian Himalayan climate
and the Central Asian Trans-Himalayan climate of Spití, Lahul, and
Ladákh.
~Zones.~--A broad division into six zones may be recognised:
A 1. Trans-Himalayan.
B 2. Himalayan.
C. Plains 3. North Western.
4. Submontane.
5. Central and South Eastern.
6. South Western.
~Trans-Himalayan Climate.~--Spití, Lahul, and Ladákh are outside the
meteorological influences which affect the rest of the Indian Empire.
The lofty ranges of the Himálaya interpose an almost insurmountable
barrier between them and the clouds of the monsoon. The rainfall is
extraordinarily small, and, considering the elevation of the inhabited
parts, 10,000 to 14,000 feet, the snowfall there is not heavy. The air
is intensely dry and clear, and the daily and seasonal range of
temperature is extreme. Leh, the capital of Ladákh (11,500 feet), has an
average rainfall (including snow) of about 3 inches. The mean
temperature is 43° Fahr., varying from 19° in January to 64° in July.
But these figures give no idea of the rigours of the severe but healthy
climate. The daily range is from 25 to 30 degrees, or double what we are
accustomed to in England. Once 17° below zero was recorded. In the rare
dry clear atmosphere the power of the solar rays is extraordinary.
"Rocks exposed to the sun may be too hot to lay the hand upon at the
same time that it is freezing in the shade."
[Illustration: Fig. 17. Average Barometric and Wind Chart for January.]
[Illustration: Fig. 18. Average Barometric and Wind Chart for July.]
~The Indian Zones--Meteorological factors.~--The distribution of pressure
in India, determined mainly by changes of temperature, and itself
determining the direction of the winds and the character of the weather,
is shown graphically in figures 17 and 18. The winter or north-east
monsoon does not penetrate into the Panjáb, where light westernly and
northernly winds prevail during the cold season. What rain is received
is due to land storms originating beyond the western frontier. The
branch of the summer or south-west monsoon which chiefly affects the
Panjáb is that which blows up the Bay of Bengal. The rain-clouds
striking the Eastern Himálaya are deflected to the west and forced up
the Gangetic plain by south-westernly winds. The lower ranges of the
Panjáb Himálaya receive in this way very heavy downpours. The rain
extends into the plains, but exhausts itself and dies away pretty
rapidly to the south and west. The Bombay branch of the monsoon mostly
spends itself on the Gháts and in the Deccan. But a part of it
penetrates from time to time to the south-east Panjáb, and, if it is
sucked into the Bay current, the result is widespread rain.
~Himalayan Zone.~--The impressions which English people get of the climate
of the Himálaya, or in Indian phrase "the Hills," are derived mainly
from stations like Simla and Murree perched at a height of from 6500 to
7500 feet on the outer ranges. The data of meteorologists are mainly
taken from the same localities. Places between 8000 and 10,000 feet in
height and further from the plains enjoy a finer climate, being both
cooler and drier in summer. But they are less accessible, and weakly
persons would find the greater rarity of the air trying.
In the first fortnight of April the plains become disagreeably warm, and
it is well to take European children to the Hills. The Panjáb Government
moves to Simla in the first fortnight of May. By that time Simla is
pretty warm in the middle of the day, but the nights are pleasant. The
mean temperature of the 24 hours in May and June is 65° or 66°, the mean
maximum and minimum being 78° and 59°. Thunderstorms with or without
hail are not uncommon in April, May, and June. In a normal year the
monsoon clouds drift up in the end of June, and the next three months
are "the Rains." Usually it does not rain either all day or every day;
but sometimes for weeks together Simla is smothered in a blanket of grey
mist. Normally the rain comes in bursts with longer or shorter breaks
between. About the third week of September the rains often cease quite
suddenly, the end being usually proclaimed by a thunderstorm. Next
morning one wakes to a new heaven and a new earth, a perfectly cloudless
sky, and clean, crisp, cool air. This ideal weather lasts for the next
three months. Even in December the days are made pleasant by bright
sunshine, and the range of temperature is much less than in the plains.
In the end of December or beginning of January the night thermometer
often falls lower at Ambála and Ráwalpindí than at Simla and Murree.
After Christmas the weather becomes broken, and in January and February
falls of snow occur. It is a disagreeable time, and English residents
are glad to descend to the plains. In March also the weather is often
unsettled. The really heavy falls of snow occur at levels much higher
than Simla. These remarks apply _mutatis mutandis_ to Dharmsála,
Dalhousie, and Murree. Owing to its position right under a lofty
mountain wall Dharmsála is a far wetter place than Simla. Murree gets
its monsoon later, and the summer rainfall is a good deal lighter. In
winter it has more snow, being nearer the source of origin of the
storms. Himalayan valleys at an elevation of 5000 feet, such as the Vale
of Kashmír, have a pleasant climate. The mean temperature of Srínagar
(5255 feet) varies from 33° in January to 75° in July, when it is
unpleasantly hot, and Europeans often move to Gulmarg. Kashmír has a
heavy snowfall even in the Jhelam valley. Below 4000 feet, especially in
confined river valleys the Himalayan climate is often disagreeably hot
and stuffy.
~Climate of the Plains.~--The course of the seasons is the same in the
plains. The jaded resident finds relief when the rains cease in the end
of September. The days are still warm, but the skies are clear, the air
dry, and the nights cool. November is rainless and in every way a
pleasant month. The clouds begin to gather before Christmas, but rain
often holds off till January. Pleasant though the early months of the
cold weather are, they lay traps for the unwary. In October and November
the daily range of temperature is very large, exceeding 30°, and the
fall at sunset very sudden. Care is needed to avoid a chill and the
fever that follows. Clear and dry though the air is, the blue of the
skies is pale owing to a light dust haze in the upper atmosphere. For
the same reason the Himalayan snows except after rain are veiled from
dwellers in the plains at a distance of 30 miles from the foot-hills.
The air in these months before the winter rains is wonderfully still. In
the three months after Christmas the Panjáb is the pathway of a series
of small storms from the west, preceded by close weather and occurring
usually at intervals of a few weeks. After a day or two of wet weather
the sky clears, and the storm is followed by a great drop in the
temperature. The traveller who shivers after a January rain-storm finds
it hard to believe that the Panjáb plain is a part of the hottest region
of the Old World which stretches from the Sahára to Delhi. If he had to
spend the period from May to July there he would have small doubts on
the subject. The heat begins to be unpleasant in April, when hot
westernly winds prevail. An occasional thunderstorm with hail relieves
the strain for a little. The warmest period of the year is May and June.
But the intense dry heat is healthier and to many less trying than the
mugginess of the rainy season. The dust-storms which used to be common
have become rarer and lighter with the spread of canal irrigation in the
western Panjáb. The rains ought to break at Delhi in the end of June and
at Lahore ten days or a fortnight later. There is often a long break
when the climate is particularly trying. The nights are terribly hot.
The outer air is then less stifling than that of the house, and there is
the chance of a little comparative coolness shortly before dawn. Many
therefore prefer to sleep on the roof or in the verandah. September,
when the rains slacken, is a muggy, unpleasant, and unhealthy month. But
in the latter half of it cooler nights give promise of a better time.
~Special features of Plain Zones.~--The submontane zone has the most
equable and the pleasantest climate in the plains. It has a rainfall of
from 30 to 40 inches, five-sevenths or more of which belongs to the
monsoon period (June-September). The north-western area has a longer and
colder winter and spring. In the end of December and in January the keen
dry cold is distinctly trying. The figures in Statement I, for
Ráwalpindí and Pesháwar, are not very characteristic of the zone as a
whole. The average of the rainfall figures, 13 inches for Pesháwar and
32 for Ráwalpindí, would give a truer result. The monsoon rains come
later and are much less abundant than in the submontane zone. Their
influence is very feeble in the western and south-western part of the
area. On the other hand the winter rains, are heavier than in any other
part of the province. Delhi and Lahore represent the extreme conditions
of the central and south-eastern plains. The latter is really on the
edge of the dry south-western area. The eastern districts of the zone
have a shorter and less severe cold weather than the western, an earlier
and heavier monsoon, but scantier winter rains. The total rainfall
varies from 16 to 30 inches. The south-western zone, with a rainfall of
from 5 to 15 inches, is the driest part of India proper except northern
Sindh and western Rájputána. Neither monsoon current affects it much. At
Multán there are only about fifteen days in the whole year on which any
rain falls.
CHAPTER VI
HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES
~Affinities of Panjáb Flora.~--It is hopeless to describe except in the
broadest outline the flora of a tract covering an area of 250,000 square
miles and ranging in altitude from a few hundred feet to a height 10,000
feet above the limit of flowering plants. The nature of the vegetation
of any tract depends on rainfall and temperature, and only secondarily
on soil. A desert is a tract with a dry substratum and dry air, great
heat during some part of the year, and bright sunshine. The soil may be
loam or sand, and as regards vegetation a sandy desert is the worst
owing to the rapid drying up of the subsoil after rain. In the third of
the maps appended to Schimper's _Plant Geography_ by far the greater
part of the area dealt with in this book is shown as part of the vast
desert extending from the Sahára to Manchuria. Seeing that the monsoon
penetrates into the province and that it is traversed by large snow-fed
rivers the Panjáb, except in parts of the extreme western and
south-western districts, is not a desert like the Sahára or Gobí,
and Schimper recognised this by marking most of the area as
semi-desert. Still the flora outside the Hills and the submontane
tract is predominantly of the desert type, being xerophilous or
drought-resisting. The adaptations which enable plants to survive in a
tract deficient in moisture are of various kinds. The roots may be
greatly developed to enable them to tap the subsoil moisture, the
leaves may be reduced in size, converted into thorns, or entirely
dispensed with, in order to check rapid evaporation, they may be covered
with silky or felted hairs, a modification which produces the same
result, or their internal tissue may be succulent or mucilaginous. In
the plants of the Panjáb plains there is no difficulty in recognising
these features of a drought-resisting flora. Schimper's map shows in the
north-east of the area a wedge thrust in between the plains' desert and
the dry elevated alpine desert cut off from the influence of the monsoon
by the lofty barrier of the Inner Himálaya. This consists of two parts,
monsoon forest, corresponding roughly with the Himalayan area Cis Ráví
above the 5000 feet contour, and dry woodland of a semi-tropical stamp,
consisting, of the adjoining foot-hills and submontane tract. This wedge
is in fact treated as part of the zone, which in the map (after Drude)
prefixed to Willis' _Manual and Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and
Ferns_, is called Indo-Malayan, and which embraces the Malayan
Archipelago and part of North Australia, Burma, and practically the
whole of India except the Panjáb, Sindh, and Rájputána. In Drude's map
the three countries last mentioned are included in a large zone called
"the Mediterranean and Orient." This is a very broad classification, and
in tracing the relationships of the Panjáb flora it is better to treat
the desert area of North Africa, which in Tripoli and Egypt extends to
the coast, apart from the Mediterranean zone. It is a familiar fact
that, as we ascend lofty mountains like those of the Himálaya, we pass
through belts or regions of vegetation of different types. The air
steadily becomes rarer and therefore colder, especially at night, and at
the higher levels there is a marked reduction in the rainfall. When the
alpine region, which in the Himálaya may be taken as beginning at 11,000
feet, is reached, the plants have as a rule bigger roots, shorter
stems, smaller leaves, but often larger and more brilliantly coloured
flowers. These are adaptations of a drought-resisting kind.
~Regions.~--In this sketch it will suffice to divide the tract into six
regions:
Plains 1. Panjáb dry plain.
2. Salt Range and North West Plateau, from
the frontier to Pabbí Hills.
3. Submontane Hills on east bank of Jhelam.
Hills 4. Sub-Himálaya, 2000-5000 feet.
5. Temperate Himálaya, 5000-11,000 feet.
6. Alpine Himálaya, 11,000-16,000 feet.
Of course a flora does not fit itself into compartments, and the changes
of type are gradual.
~Panjáb Dry Plain.~--The affinities of the flora of the Panjáb plains
south of the Salt Range and the submontane tract are, especially in the
west, with the desert areas of Persia, Arabia, and North Africa, though
the spread of canal irrigation is modifying somewhat the character of
the vegetation. The soil and climate are unsuited to the growth of large
trees, but adapted to scrub jungle of a drought-resisting type, which at
one time covered very large areas from the Jamna to the Jhelam. The soil
on which this sparse scrub grew is a good strong loam, but the rainfall
was too scanty and the water-level too deep to admit of much cultivation
outside the valleys of the rivers till the labours of canal engineers
carried their waters to the uplands. East of the Sutlej the Bikaner
desert thrusts northwards a great wedge of sandy land which occupies a
large area in Baháwalpur, Hissár, Ferozepur, and Patiála. Soil of this
description is free of forest growth, and the monsoon rainfall in this
part of the province is sufficient to encourage an easy, but very
precarious, cultivation of autumn millets and pulses. The great Thal
desert to the south of the Salt Range between the valleys of the Jhelam
and the Indus has a similar soil, but the scantiness of the rainfall has
confined cultivation within much narrower limits. Between the Sutlej and
the Jhelam the uplands between the river valleys are known locally as
Bárs. The largest of the truly indigenous trees of the Panjáb plains are
the _farásh_ (Tamarix articulata) and the thorny _kíkar_ (Acacia
Arabica). The latter yields excellent wood for agricultural implements,
and fortunately it grows well in sour soils. Smaller thorny acacias are
the _nímbar_ or _raunj_ (Acacia leucophloea) and the _khair_ (Acacia
Senegal). The dwarf tamarisk, _pilchí_ or _jhao_ (Tamarix dioica), grows
freely in moist sandy soils near rivers. The scrub jungle consists
mostly of _jand_ (Prosopis spicigera), a near relation of the Acacias,
_jál_ or _van_ (Salvadora oleoides), and the coral-flowered _karíl_ or
leafless caper (Capparis aphylla). All these show their desert
affinities, the _jand_ by its long root and its thorns, the _jál_ by its
small leathery leaves, and the _karíl_ by the fact that it has managed
to dispense with leaves altogether. The _jand_ is a useful little tree,
and wherever it grows the natural qualities of the soil are good. The
sweetish fruit of the _jál_, known as _pílu_, is liked by the people,
and in famines they will even eat the berries of the leafless caper.
Other characteristic plants of the Panjáb plains are under Leguminosae,
the _khip_ (Crotalaria burhia), two Farsetias (_faríd kí búti_), and the
_jawása_ or camel thorn (Alhagi camelorum), practically leafless, but
with very long and stout spines; under Capparidaceae several Cleomes,
species of Corchorus (Tiliaceae), under Zygophyllaceae three
Mediterranean genera, Tribulus, Zygophyllum, and Fagonia, under
Solanaceae several Solanums and Withanias, and various salsolaceous
Chenopods known as _lána_.
[Illustration: Fig. 19. Banian or Bor trees.]
In the sandier tracts the _ak_ (Calotropis procera, N.O.
Asclepiadaceae), the _harmal_ (Peganum harmala, N.O. Rutaceae), and the
colocynth gourd (Citrullus colocynthis, N.O. Cucurbitaceae), which,
owing to the size of its roots, manages to flourish in the sands of
African and Indian deserts, grow abundantly. Common weeds of cultivation
are Fumaria parviflora, a near relation of the English fumitory, Silene
conoidea, and two Spergulas (Caryophyllaceae), and Sisymbrium Irio
(Cruciferae). A curious little Orchid, Zeuxine sulcata, is found growing
among the grass on canal banks. The American yellow poppy, Argemone
Mexicana, a noxious weed, has unfortunately established itself widely in
the Panjáb plain. Two trees of the order Leguminosae, the _shisham_ or
_tálí_ (Dalbergia Sissoo) and the _siris_ (Albizzia lebbek), are
commonly planted on Panjáb roads. The true home of the former is in
river beds in the low hills or in ravines below the hills. But it is a
favourite tree on roads and near wells throughout the province, and
deservedly so, for it yields excellent timber. The _siris_ on the other
hand is an untidy useless tree. The _kíkar_ might be planted as a
roadside tree to a greater extent. Several species of figs, especially
the _pípal_ (Ficus religiosa) and _bor_ or banian (Ficus Indica) are
popular trees.
~Salt Range and North-West Plains.~---Our second region may be taken as
extending from the Pabbí hills on the east of the Jhelam in Gujrát to
our administrative boundary beyond the Indus, its southern limit being
the Salt Range. Here the flora is of a distinctly Mediterranean type.
Poppies are as familiar in Ráwalpindi as they are in England or Italy,
and Hypecoum procumbens, a curious Italian plant of the same order, is
found in Attock. The abundance of Crucifers is also a Mediterranean
feature. Eruca sativa, the oil-seed known as _táramíra_ or _jamián_,
which sows itself freely in waste land and may be found growing even on
railway tracks in the Ráwalpindí division, is an Italian and Spanish
weed. Malcolmia strigosa, which spreads a reddish carpet over the
ground, and Malcolmia Africana are common Crucifers near Ráwalpindí. The
latter is a Mediterranean species. The Salt Range genera Diplotaxis and
Moricandia are Italian, and the peculiar Notoceras Canariensis found in
Attock is also a native of the Canary Islands. Another order,
Boraginaceae, which is very prominent in the Mediterranean region, is
also important in the North-West Panjáb, though the showier plants of
the order are wanting. One curious Borage, Arnebia Griffithii, seems to
be purely Asiatic. It has five brown spots on its petals, which fade and
disappear in the noonday sunshine. These are supposed to be drops of
sweat which fell from Muhammad's forehead, hence the plant is called
_paighambarí phúl_ or the prophet's flower. Among Composites Calendulas
and Carthamus oxyacantha or the _pohlí_, a near relation of the
Carthamus which yields the saffron dye, are abundant. Both are common
Mediterranean genera. Silybum Marianum, a handsome thistle with large
leaves mottled with white, extends from Britain to Ráwalpindí.
Interesting species are Tulipa stellata and Tulipa chrysantha. The
latter is a Salt Range plant, as is the crocus-like Merendera Persica,
and the yellow Iris Aitchisoni. A curious plant found in the same hills
is the cactus-like Boucerosia (N.O. Asclepiadaceae), recalling to
botanists the more familiar Stapelias of the same order. Another
leafless Asclepiad, Periploca aphylla, which extends westwards to Arabia
and Nubia and southwards to Sindh, is, like Boucerosia, a typical
xerophyte adapted to a very dry soil and atmosphere. The thorny Acacias,
A. eburnea and A. modesta (vern. _phuláhí_), of the low bare hills of
the N.W. Panjáb are also drought-resisting plants.
~Submontane Region.~--The Submontane region consists of a broad belt below
the Siwáliks extending from the Jamna nearly to the Jhelam, and may be
said to include the districts of Ambála, Karnál (part), Hoshyárpur,
Kángra (part), Hazára (part), Jalandhar, Gurdáspur, Siálkot, Gujrát
(part). In its flora there is a strong infusion of Indo-Malayan
elements. An interesting member of it is the Butea frondosa, a small
tree of the order Leguminosae. It is known by several names, _dhák_,
_chichra_, _paláh_, and _palás_. Putting out its large orange-red
flowers in April it ushers in the hot weather. It has a wide range from
Ceylon to Bengal, where it has given its name to the town of Dacca and
the battlefield of Plassy (Palási). From Bengal it extends all the way
to Hazára. There can be no doubt that a large part of the submontane
region was once _dhák_ forest. Tracts in the north of Karnál--Chachra,
in Jalandhar--Dardhák, and in Gujrát--Paláhí, have taken their names
from this tree. It coppices very freely, furnishes excellent firewood
and good timber for the wooden frames on which the masonry cylinders of
wells are reared, it exudes a valuable gum, its flowers yield a dye, and
the dry leaves are eaten by buffaloes. A tree commonly planted near
wells and villages in the submontane tract is the _dhrek_ (Melia
azedarach, N.O. Meliaceae), which is found as far west as Persia and is
often called by English people the Persian lilac. The _bahera_
(Terminalia belerica, N.O. Combretaceae), a much larger tree, is
Indo-Malayan. Common shrubs are the _marwan_ (Vitex negundo, N.O.
Verbenaceae), Plumbago Zeylanica (Plumbaginaceae), the _bánsa_ or
_bhekar_ (Adhatoda vasica, N.O. Acanthaceae). The last is Indo-Malayan.
Among herbs Cassias, which do not occur in Europe, are common. The
curious cactus-like Euphorbia Royleana grows abundantly and is used for
making hedges.
~Sub-Himálaya.~--A large part of the Sub-Himalayan region belongs to the
Siwáliks. The climate is fairly moist and subject to less extremes of
heat and cold than the regions described above. A strong infusion of
Indo-Malayan types is found and a noticeable feature is the large number
of flowering trees and shrubs. Such beautiful flowering trees as the
_simal_ or silk-cotton tree (Bombax Malabaricum, N.O. Malvaceae), the
_amaltás_ (Cassia fistula), Albizzia mollis and Albizzia stipulata,
Erythrina suberosa, Bauhinia purpurea and Bauhinia variegata, all
belonging to the order Leguminosae, are unknown in Europe, but common in
the Indo-Malayan region. This is true also of Oroxylum Indicum (N.O.
Bignoniaceae) with its remarkable long sword-like capsules, and of the
_kamíla_ (Mallotus Philippinensis), which abounds in the low hills, but
may escape the traveller's notice as its flowers have no charm of form
or colour. He will in spring hardly fail to observe another Indo-Malayan
tree, the _dháwí_ (Woodfordia floribunda, N.O. Lythraceae) with its
bright red flowers. Shrubs with conspicuous flowers are also common,
among which may be noted species of Clematis, Capparis spinosa, Kydia
calycina, Mimosa rubicaulis, Hamiltonia suaveolens, Caryopteris
Wallichiana, and Nerium Oleander. The latter grows freely in sandy
torrent beds. Rhus cotinus, which reddens the hillsides in May, is a
native also of Syria, Italy, and Southern France. Other trees to be
noticed are a wild pear (Pyrus pashia), the olive (Olea cuspidata), the
_khair_ (Acacia catechu) useful to tanners, the _tun_ (Cedrela toona),
whose wood is often used for furniture, the _dháman_ (Grewia
oppositifolia, N.O. Tiliaceae), and several species of fig. The most
valuable products however of the forests of the lower hills are the
_chír_ or _chíl_ pine (Pinus longifolia), and a giant grass, the bamboo
(Dendrocalamus strictus), which attains a height of from 20 to 40 feet.
Shrubs which grow freely on stony hills are the _sanattha_ or _mendru_
(Dodonaea viscosa, N.O. Sapindaceae), which is a valuable protection
against denudation, as goats pass it by, the _garna_, which is a species
of Carissa, and Plectranthus rugosus. Climbers are common. The great
Hiptage madablota (N.O. Malpighiaceae), the Bauhinia Vahlii or elephant
creeper, and some species of the parasitic Loranthus, deserve mention,
also Acacia caesia, Pueraria tuberosa, Vallaris Heynei, Porana
paniculata, and several vines, especially Vitis lanata with its large
rusty leaves. Characteristic herbs are the sweet-scented Viola patrinii,
the slender milkwort; Polygala Abyssinica, a handsome pea, Vigna
vexillata, a borage, Trichodesma Indicum, a balsam, Impatiens balsamina,
familiar in English gardens, the beautiful delicate little blue
Evolvulus alsinoides, the showy purple convolvulus, Ipomaea hederacea,
and a curious lily, Gloriosa superba.
[Illustration: Fig. 20. Deodárs and Hill Temple.]
~Temperate Himálaya.~--The richest part of the temperate Himalayan flora
is probably in the 7500-10,000 zone. Above 10,000 feet sup-alpine
conditions begin, and at 12,000 feet tree growth becomes very scanty and
the flora is distinctly alpine. The _chír_ pine so common in
sub-Himalayan forests extends up to 6500 feet. At this height and 1000
feet lower the _ban_ oak (Quercus incana), grey on the lower side of the
leaf, which is so common at Simla, abounds. Where the _chíl_ stops, the
_kail_ or blue pine (Pinus excelsa), after the _deodár_ the most
valuable product of Himalayan forests, begins. Its zone may be taken as
from 7000 to 9000 feet. To the same zone belong the _kelu_ or _deodár_
(Cedrus Libani), the glossy leaved _mohru_ oak (Quercus dilatata),
whose wood is used for making charcoal, and two small trees of the Heath
order, Rhododendron arborea and Pieris ovalifolia. The former in April
and May lightens up with its bright red flowers the sombre Simla
forests. The _kharshu_ or rusty-leaved oak (Quercus semecarpifolia)
affects a colder climate than its more beautiful glossy-leaved relation,
and may almost be considered sub-alpine. It is common on Hattu, and the
oaks there present a forlorn appearance after rain with funereal mosses
dripping with moisture hanging from their trunks. The firs, Picea
morinda, with its grey tassels, and Abies Pindrow with its dark green
yew-like foliage, succeed the blue pine. Picea may be said to range from
8000 to 10,000 feet, and the upper limit of Abies is from 1000 to 2000
feet higher. These splendid trees are unfortunately of small commercial
value. The yew, Taxus baccata, is found associated with them. Between
5000 and 8000 feet, besides the oaks and other broad-leaved trees
already noticed, two relations of the dogwood, Cornus capitata and
Cornus macrophylla, a large poplar, Populus ciliata, a pear, Pyrus
lanata, a holly, Ilex dipyrena, an elm and its near relation, Celtis
australis, and species of Rhus and Euonymus, may be mentioned. Cornus
capitata is a small tree, but it attracts notice because the heads of
flowers surrounded by bracts of a pale yellow colour have a curious
likeness to a rose, and the fruit is in semblance not unlike a
strawberry. Above 8000 feet several species of maple abound. The
_chinár_ or Platanus orientalis, found as far west as Sicily, grows to
splendid proportions by the quiet waterways of the Vale of Kashmír. The
undergrowth in temperate Himalayan forests consists largely of
barberries, Desmodiums, Indigoferas, roses, brambles, Spiraeas,
Viburnums, honeysuckles with their near relation, Leycesteria formosa,
which has been introduced into English shrubberies. The great vine,
Vitis Himalayana, whose leaves turn red in autumn, climbs up many of the
trees. Of the flowers it is impossible to give any adequate account. The
flora is distinctly Mediterranean in type; the orders in Collett's
_Flora Simlensis_ which are not represented in the Italian flora contain
hardly more than 5 per cent. of the total genera. The plants included in
some of these non-Mediterranean orders are very beautiful, for example,
the Begonias, the Amphicomes (Bignoniaceae), Chirita bifolia and
Platystemma violoides (Gesneraceae), and Hedychium (Scitamineae). More
important members of the flora are species of Clematis, including the
beautiful white Clematis montana, anemones, larkspurs, columbine,
monkshoods, St John's worts, geraniums, balsams, species of Astragalus,
Potentillas, Asters, ragworts, species of Cynoglossum, gentians and
Swertias, Androsaces and primroses, Wulfenia and louseworts, species of
Strobilanthes, Salvias and Nepetas, orchids, irises, Ophiopogon, Smilax,
Alliums, lilies, and Solomon's seal. Snake plants (Arisaema) and their
relation Sauromatum guttatum of the order Araceae are very common in the
woods. The striped spathe in some species of Arisaema bears a curious
resemblance to the head of a cobra uplifted to strike. Orchids decrease
as one proceeds westwards, but irises are much more common in Kashmír
than in the Simla hills. The Kashmír fritillaries include the beautiful
Crown Imperial.
[Illustration: Fig. 21. Firs in Himálaya.]
[Illustration: Fig. 22. Chinárs.]
[Illustration: Fig. 23. Rhododendron campanulatum.]
~Alpine Himálaya.~--In the Alpine Himálaya the scanty tree-growth is
represented by willows, junipers, and birches. After 12,000 or 12,500
feet it practically disappears. A dwarf shrub, Juniperus recurva, is
found clothing hillsides a good way above the two trees of the same
genus. Other alpine shrubs which may be noticed are two rhododendrons,
which grow on cliffs at an elevation of 10,000 to 14,000 feet, R.
campanulatum and R. lepidotum, Gaultheria nummularioides with its
black-purple berry, and Cassiope fastigiata, all belonging to the order
Ericaceae. The herbs include beautiful primulas, saxifrages, and
gentians, and in the bellflower order species of Codonopsis and
Cyananthus. Among Composites may be mentioned the tansies, Saussureas,
and the fine Erigeron multiradiatus common in the forest above Narkanda.
In the bleak uplands beyond the Himálaya tree-growth is very scanty, but
in favoured localities willows and the pencil cedar, Juniperus
pseudosabina, are found. The people depend for fuel largely on a hoary
bush of the Chenopod order, Eurotia ceratoides. In places a profusion of
the red Tibetan roses, Rosa Webbiana, lightens up the otherwise dreary
scene.
CHAPTER VII
FORESTS
~Rights of State in Waste.~--Under Indian rule the State claimed full
power of disposing of the waste, and, even where an exclusive right in
the soil was not maintained, some valuable trees, e.g. the _deodár_ in
the Himálaya, were treated as the property of the Rája. Under the tenure
prevailing in the hills the soil is the Rája's, but the people have a
permanent tenant right in any land brought under cultivation with his
permission. In Kulu the British Government asserted its ownership of the
waste. In the south-western Panjáb, where the scattered hamlets had no
real boundaries, ample waste was allotted to each estate, and the
remainder was claimed as State property.
~Kinds of Forest.~--The lands in the Panjáb over which authority, varying
through many degrees from full ownership unburdened with rights of user
down to a power of control exercised in the interests of the surrounding
village communities, may be roughly divided into
(_a_) Mountain forests;
(_b_) Hill forests;
(_c_) Scrub and grass _Jangal_ in the Plains.
The first are forests of _deodár_, blue pine, fir, and oak in the
Himálaya above the level of 5000 feet. The hill forests occupy the
lower spurs, the Siwáliks in Hoshyárpur, etc., and the low dry hills of
the north-west. A strong growth of _chír_ pine (Pinus longifolia) is
often found in the Himálaya between 3000 and 5000 feet. Below 3000 feet
is scrub forest, the only really valuable product being bamboo. The
hills in the north-western districts of the Panjáb and N.W.F. Province,
when nature is allowed to have its way, are covered with low scrub
including in some parts a dwarf palm (Nannorhops Ritchieana), useful for
mat making, and with a taller, but scantier growth of _phuláhí_ (Acacia
modesta) and wild olive. What remains of the scrub and grass _jangal_ of
the plains is to be found chiefly in the Bár tracts between the Sutlej
and the Jhelam. Much of it has disappeared, or is about to disappear,
with the advance of canal irrigation. Dry though the climate is the Bár
was in good seasons a famous grazing area. The scrub consisted mainly of
_jand_ (Prosopis spicigera), _jál_ (Salvadora oleoides), the _karíl_
(Capparis aphylla) and the _farásh_ (Tamarix articulata).
~Management and Income of Forests.~--The Forest Department of the Panjáb
has existed singe 1864, when the first Conservator was appointed. In
1911-12 it managed 8359 square miles in the Panjáb consisting of:
Reserved Forests 1844 square miles
Protected " 5203 " "
Unclassed " 1312 " "
It was also in charge of 235 square miles of reserved forest in the
Hazára district of the N.W.F. Province, and of 364 miles of fine
mountain forest in the native State of Bashahr. In addition a few
reserved forests have been made over as grazing areas to the Military
Department, and Deputy Commissioners are in charge of a very large area
of unclassed forest.
No forest can be declared "reserved" or "protected" unless it is owned
in whole or in part by the State. It is enough if the trees or some of
them are the property of the Government. In order to safeguard all
private rights a special forest settlement must be made before a forest
can be declared to be "reserved." In the case of a protected forest it
is enough if Government is satisfied that the rights of the State and of
private persons have been recorded at a land revenue settlement. After
deducting income belonging to the year 1909-10 realized in 1910-11, the
average income of the two years ending 1911-12 was £81,805 (Rs.
1,227,082) and the average expenditure £50,954 (Rs. 764,309).
~Sources of Income.~--In the mountain forests the chief source of income
is the _deodár_, which is valuable both for railway sleepers and as
building timber. The blue pine is also of commercial value. _Deodár_,
blue pine, and some _chír_ are floated down the rivers to depots in the
plains. Firwood is inferior to cedar and pine, and the great fir forests
are too remote for profitable working at present. There are fine
mountain forests in Chitrál, on the Safed Koh, and in Western
Wazíristán, but these have so far not even been fully explored. The
value of the hill forests may be increased by the success which has
attended the experimental extraction of turpentine from the resin of the
_chír_ pine. The bamboo forests of Kángra are profitable. At present an
attempt is being made to acclimatize several species of Eucalyptus in
the low hills. The scrub _jangal_ in the plains yields good fuel. As the
area is constantly shrinking it is fortunate that the railways have
ceased to depend on this source of supply, coal having to a great extent
taken the place of wood. To prevent shortage of fuel considerable areas
in the tracts commanded by the new canals are being reserved for
irrigated forests. A forest of this class covering an area of 37 square
miles and irrigated from the Upper Bárí Doáb Canal has long existed at
Changa Manga in the Lahore district.
~Forests in Kashmír.~--The extensive and valuable Kashmír forests are
mountain and hill forests, the former, which cover much the larger area
yielding, _deodár_, blue pine, and firs, and the latter _chír_ pine. The
total area exceeds 2600 square miles.
CHAPTER VIII
BEASTS, BIRDS, FISHES, AND INSECTS
~Fauna.~--With the spread of cultivation and drainage the Panjáb plains
have ceased to be to anything like the old extent the haunt of wild
beasts and wild fowl. The lion has long been extinct and the tiger has
practically disappeared. Leopards are to be found in low hills, and
sometimes stray into the plains. Wolves are seen occasionally, and
jackals are very common. The black buck (Antilope cerricapra) can still
be shot in many places. The graceful little _chinkára_ or ravine deer
(Gazella Bennetti) is found in sandy tracts, and the hogdeer or _párha_
(Cervus porcinus) near rivers. The _nílgai_ (Boselaphus tragocamelus) is
less common. Monkeys abound in the hills and in canal-irrigated tracts
in the Eastern districts, where their sacred character protects them
from destruction, though they do much damage to crops. Peafowl are to be
seen in certain tracts, especially in the eastern Panjáb. They should
not be shot where the people are Hindus or anywhere near a Hindu shrine.
The great and lesser bustards and several kinds of sand grouse are to be
found in sandy districts. The grey partridge is everywhere, and the
black can be got near the rivers. The _sísí_ and the _chikor_ are the
partridges of the hills, which are also the home of fine varieties of
pheasants including the _monál_. Quail frequent the ripening fields in
April and late in September. Duck of various kinds abound where there
are _jhíls_, and snipe are to be got in marshy ground. The green
parrots, crows, and vultures are familiar sights. Both the sharp-nosed
(Garialis Gangetica, vern. _ghariál_) and the blunt-nosed (Crocodilus
palustris, vern. magar) crocodiles haunt the rivers. The fish are
tasteless; the _rohu_ and _mahseer_ are the best. Poisonous snakes are
the _karait_, the _cobra_, and Russell's viper. The first is sometimes
an intruder into houses. Lizards and mongooses are less unwelcome
visitors. White ants attack timber and ruin books, and mosquitoes and
sandflies add to the unpleasant features of the hot weather. The best
known insect pest is the locust, but visitations on a large scale are
rare. Of late years much more damage has been done by an insect which
harbours in the cotton bolls.
[Illustration: Fig. 24. Big game in Ladákh.
KEY: 1, 3, 7, 9, Chiru or Tibetan Antelope. 2, Argalí or Ovis Ammon. 4,
6, 8, Bharal or Ovis nahura. 5, Yak or Bos grunniens. 10, 11, 12, Uriál
or Ovis Vignei. 13, Bear skin.]
~Game of the Mountains.~--If sport in the plains has ceased to be first
rate, it is otherwise in the hills. Some areas and the heights at which
the game is to be found are noted below:
(_a_) Goats and goat-antelopes:
1. Ibex (Capra Sibirica) 10,000-14,000 ft.
Kashmír, Lahul, Bashahr.
2. Márkhor (Capra Falconeri). Kashmír, Astor,
Gilgit, Sulimán hills.
3. Thár (Hemitragus jemlaicus), 9000-14,000
ft. Kashmír, Chamba.
4. Gural (Cemas goral), 3000-8000 ft. Kashmír,
Chamba, Simla hills, Bashahr.
5. Serow (Nemorhaedus bubalinus), 6000-12,000
ft. From Kashmír eastwards.
(_b_) Sheep:
1. Bharal (Ovis nahura), 10,000-12,000 ft. and
over. Ladákh, Bashahr.
2. Argalí (Ovis Ammon). Ladákh.
3. Uriál (Ovis Vignei) Salt Range, Sulimán
hills.
(_c_) Antelopes:
1. Chiru or Tibetan Antelope (Pantholops hodgsoni).
Ladákh.
(_d_) Oxen--Yák (Bos grunniens). Ladákh. The
domesticated _yák_ is invaluable as a beast of
burden in the Trans-Himalayan tract. The
royal fly whisk or _chaurí_ is made from pure
white yák tails.
[Illustration: Fig. 25. Yáks.]
(_e_) Stag:
1. Bárasingha (Cervus Duvanceli). Foot of
Himálaya in Kashmír.
(_f_) Bears:
1. Red or Brown (Ursus Arctos), 10,000-13,000
ft. Kashmír, Chamba, Bashahr, etc.
2. Black (Ursus torquatus), 6000-12,000 ft.
Same regions, but at lower elevations.
The small bear of the southern Sulimán
hills known as _mam_ is now considered a
variety of the black bear.
(_g_) Leopards:
1. Snow Leopard (Felis Uncia), 9000-15,000 ft.
Kashmír, Chamba, Bashahr.
2. Ordinary Leopard (Felis Pardus). Lower
hills.
SHOOTING IN HILLS
~Shooting in Hills.~--The finest shooting in the north-west Himálaya is
probably to be got in Ladákh and Baltistán, but the trip is somewhat
expensive and requires more time than may be available. In many areas
licenses have to be obtained, and the conditions limit the number of
certain animals, and the size of heads, that may be shot. For example,
the permit in Chamba may allow the shooting of two red bear and two
_thár_, and when these have been got the sportsman must turn his
attention to black bear and _gural_. Any one contemplating a shooting
expedition in the Himálaya should get from one who has the necessary
experience very complete instructions as to weapons, tents, clothing,
stores, etc.
SPORT IN THE PLAINS
(_a_) ~Black Buck Shooting.~--To get a good idea of what shooting in the
plains is like Major Glasford's _Rifle and Romance in the Indian Jungle_
may be consulted. As regards larger game the favourite sport is black
buck shooting. A high velocity cordite rifle is dangerous to the country
people, and some rifle firing black powder should be used. It is well to
reach the home of the herd soon after sunrise while it is still in the
open, and not among the crops. There will usually be one old buck in
each herd. He himself is not watchful, but his does are, and the herd
gallops off with great leaps at the first scent of danger, the does
leading and their lord and master bringing up the rear. If by dint of
careful and patient stalking you get to some point of vantage, say 100
yards from the big buck, it is worth while to shoot. Even if the bullet
finds its mark the quarry may gallop 50 yards before it drops. Good
heads vary from 20" to 24" or even more.
[Illustration: Fig. 26. Black buck.]
(_b_) ~Small game in Plains.~--The cold weather shooting begins with the
advent of the quail in the end of September and ends when they reappear
among the ripening wheat in April. The duck arrive from the Central
Asian lakes in November and duck and snipe shooting lasts till February
in districts where there are _jhíls_ and swampy land. For a decent shot
30 couple of snipe is a fair bag. To get duck the _jhíl_ should be
visited at dawn and again in the evening, and it is well to post several
guns in favourable positions in the probable line of flight. 40 or 50
birds would be a good morning's bag. In drier tracts the bag will
consist of partridges and a hare or two, or, if the country is sandy,
some sand-grouse and perhaps a bustard.
CHAPTER IX
THE PEOPLE: NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES
~Growth of Population.~--It is probable that in the 64 years since
annexation the population of the Panjáb has increased by from 40 to 50
per cent. The first reliable census was taken in 1881. The figures for
the four decennial enumerations are:
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | |
| | Panjáb | N.W.F. | Kashmír |
|Year |----------------------------------| Province | |
| | British | Native | Total | | |
| | | States | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
|1881 |17,274,597 |3,861,683 |21,136,280 |1,543,726 | |
|1891 |19,009,368 |4,263,280 |23,272,648 |1,857,504 |2,543.952|
|1901 |20,330,337 |4,424,398 |24,754,735 |2,041,534 |2,905,578|
|1911 |19,974,956 |4,212,974 |24,187,730 |2,196,933 |3,158,126|
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
~Incidence of Population in Panjáb.~--The estimated numbers of independent
tribes dwelling within the British sphere of influence is 1,600,000. The
incidence of the population on the total area of the Panjáb including
native States is 177 per square mile, which may be compared with 189 in
France and 287 in the British Isles. As the map shows, the density is
reduced by the large area of semi-desert country in the south-west and
by the mountainous tract in the north-east. The distribution of the
population is the exact opposite of that which prevails in Great
Britain. There are only 174 towns as compared with 44,400 villages, and
nearly nine-tenths of the people are to be found in the latter. Some of
the so-called towns are extremely small, and the average population per
town is but 14,800 souls. There are no large towns in the European
sense. The biggest, Delhi and Lahore, returned respectively 232,837 and
228,687 persons.
[Illustration: Fig. 27. Map showing density of population.]
[Illustration: Fig. 28. Map showing increase and decrease of
population.]
~Growth stopped by Plague.~--The growth of the population between 1881 and
1891 amounted to 10 p.c. Plague, which has smitten the Panjáb more
severely than any other province, appeared in 1896, and its effect was
seen in the lower rate of expansion between 1891 and 1901.
Notwithstanding great extensions of irrigation and cultivation in the
Rechna Doáb the numbers declined by 2 p.c. between 1901 and 1911. In the
ten years from 1901 to 1910 in the British districts alone over two
million people died of plague and the death-rate was raised to 12 p.c.
above the normal. It actually exceeded the birth-rate by 2 p.c. Of the
total deaths in the decade nearly one in four was due to plague. The
part which has suffered most is the rich submontane tract east of the
Chenáb, Lahore and Gujránwála, and some of the south-eastern districts.
A glance at the map will show how large the loss of population has been
there. It is by no means entirely due to plague. The submontane
districts were almost over-populated, and many of their people have
emigrated as colonists, tenants, and labourers to the waste tracts
brought under cultivation by the excavation of the Lower Chenáb and
Jhelam canals. The districts which have received very marked additions
of population from this cause are Jhang (21 p.c.), Sháhpur (30 p.c.), and
Lyallpur (45 p.c.). Deaths from plague have greatly increased the
deficiency of females, which has always been a noteworthy feature. In
1911 the proportion had very nearly fallen to four females for every
five males.
~Increase and Incidence in N.W.F. Province.~--The incidence of the
population in the area covered by the five districts of the N.W.F.
Province is 164 per square mile. The district figures are given in the
map in the margin. The increase between 1901 and 1911 in these districts
was 7-1/2 p.c. There have been no severe outbreaks of plague like those
which have decimated the population of some of the Panjáb districts.
[Illustration: Fig. 29. Map showing density of population in N.W.F.
Province.]
General figures for the territory of the Mahárája of Kashmír are
meaningless. In the huge Indus valley the incidence is only 4 persons
per sq. mile. In Jammu and Kashmír it is 138. The map taken from the
Census Report gives the details. The increase in the decade was on
paper 8-1/2 p.c., distributed between 5-1/4 in Jammu, 12 in Kashmír, and
14 in the Indus valley. A great part of the increase in the last must be
put down to better enumeration.
[Illustration: Fig. 30. Map showing density of population in Kashmir.]
~Health and duration of life.~--The climate of the Panjáb plains has
produced a vigorous, but not a long-lived, race. The mean age of the
whole population in the British districts is only 25. The normal
birth-rate of the Panjáb is about 41 per 1000, which exceeds the English
rate in the proportion of 5 to 3. In 1910 the recorded birth-rate in the
N.W.F. Province was 38 per 1000. Till plague appeared the Panjáb
death-rate averaged 32 or 33 per 1000, or more than double that of
England. The infantile mortality is enormous, and one out of every four
or five children fails to survive its first year. The death-rate in the
N.W.F. Province was 27 per 1000 in 1910. In the ten years ending 1910
plague pushed up the average death-rate in the Panjáb to 43-1/2 per
1000. Even now malarial fever is a far worse foe than plague. The
average annual deaths in the ten years ending 1910 were:
Fevers 450,376
Plague 202,522
Other diseases 231,473
-------
Total 884,371
-------
Fever is very rife in October and November, and these are the most
unhealthy months in the year, March and April being the best. The
variations under fevers and plague from year to year are enormous. In
1907 the latter claimed 608,685 victims, and the provincial death-rate
reached the appalling figure of 61 per 1000. Next year the plague
mortality dropped to 30,708, but there were 697,058 deaths from fever.
There is unfortunately no reason to believe that plague has spent its
force or that the people as a whole will in the near future generally
accept the protective measures of inoculation and evacuation.
Vaccination, the prejudice against which has largely disappeared, has
robbed the small-pox goddess of many offerings. As a general cause of
mortality the effect of cholera in the Panjáb is now insignificant. But
it is still to be feared in the Kashmír valley, especially in the
picturesque but filthy summer capital. Syphilis is very common in the
hill country in the north-east of the province. Blindness and leprosy
are both markedly on the decrease. Both infirmities are common in
Kashmír, especially the former. The rigours of the climate in a large
part of the State force the people to live day and night for the seven
winter months almost entirely in dark and smoky huts, and it is small
wonder that their eyesight is ruined.
~Occupations.~--The Panjáb is preeminently an agricultural country, and
the same is true in an almost greater degree of the N.W.F. Province and
Kashmír. The typical holding is that of the small landowner tilling from
3 to 10 acres with his own hands with or without help from village
menials. The tenant class is increasing, but there are still three
owners to two tenants. Together they make up 50 p.c. of the population
of the Panjáb, and 5 p.c. is added for farm labourers. Altogether,
according to the census returns 58 p.c. of the population depends for
its support on the soil, 20.5 on industries, chiefly the handicrafts of
the weaver, potter, leather worker, carpenter, and blacksmith, 9.4 on
trade, 2.5 on professions, and 9.6 on other sources of livelihood.
~Measures taken to protect agriculturists.~--In a country owned so largely
by small farmers, the first task of the Government must be to secure
their welfare and contentment. Before plague laid its grasp on the rich
central districts it was feared that they were becoming congested, and
the canal colonization schemes referred to in a later chapter were
largely designed to relieve them. But there is a much subtler foe to
whose insidious attacks small owners are liable, the temptation to abuse
their credit till their acres are loaded with mortgages and finally
lost. So threatening had this economic disease for years appeared that
at last in 1900 the Panjáb Alienation of Land Act was passed, which
forbade sales by people of agricultural tribes to other classes without
the sanction of the district officer, and greatly restricted the power
of mortgaging. The same restrictions are in force in the N.W.F.
Province. The Act is popular with those for whose benefit it was
devised, and has effected its object of checking land alienation and
probably to some extent discouraged extravagance. It has been
supplemented by a still more valuable measure, the Co-operative Credit
Societies Act. The growth of these societies in the Panjáb has been very
remarkable, a notable contrast to the very slow advance of the similar
movement in England. In 1913-14 there were 3261 village banks with
155,250 members and a working capital of 133-3/4 _lakhs_ or £885,149,
besides 38 central banks with a capital of 42-3/4 _lakhs_ or about
£285,000. Village banks held deposits amounting to nearly 37 _lakhs_,
more than half of which was received from non-members, and lent out
71-1/2 _lakhs_ in the year to their members.
~Tribal Composition.~--Table I based on the Census returns shows the
percentages of the total population belonging to the chief tribes. The
classification into "land-holding, etc." is a rough one.
[Illustration: Fig. 31. Jat Sikh Officers (father and son).]
~Jats.~--The Panjáb is _par excellence_ the home of the Jats. Everywhere
in the plains, except in the extreme north-west corner of the province,
they form a large element in the population. In the east they are
Hindus, in the centre Sikhs and Muhammadans, and in the west
Muhammadans. The Jat is a typical son of the soil, strong and sturdy,
hardworking and brave, a fine soldier and an excellent farmer, but
slow-witted and grasping. The Sikh Jat finds an honourable outlet for
his overflowing energy in the army and in the service of the Crown
beyond the bounds of India. When he misses that he sometimes takes to
dacoity. Unfortunately he is often given to strong drink, and, when his
passions or his greed are aroused, can be exceedingly brutal. Jat in the
Western Panjáb is applied to a large number of tribes, whose ethnical
affinities are somewhat dubious.
~Rájputs.~--Rájputs are found in considerable numbers all over the
province except in a few of the western and south-western districts. As
farmers they are much hampered by caste rules which forbid the
employment of their women in the fields, and the prohibition of widow
remarriage is a severe handicap. They are generally classed as poor
cultivators, and this is usually, but by no means universally, a true
description. The Dogra Rájputs of the low hills are good soldiers. They
are numerous in Kángra and in the Jammu province of Kashmír.
~Brahmans.~--The Brahmans of the eastern plains and north-eastern hills
are mostly agriculturists, and the Muhiál Brahman of the north-western
districts is a landowner and a soldier. In the hills the Brahman is
often a shopkeeper. The priestly Brahman is found everywhere, but his
spiritual authority has always been far less in the Panjáb than in most
parts of India.
~Biluches.~--When the frontier was separated off the Biluch district of
Dera Ghází Khán with its strong tribal organization under chiefs or
_tumandárs_ was left in the Panjáb. The Biluches are a frank, manly,
truthful race, free from fanaticism and ready as a rule to follow their
chiefs. They are fine horsemen. Unfortunately it is difficult to get
them to enlist.
~Patháns.~--Both politically and numerically the Patháns are the
predominant tribe in the N.W.F. Province, and are of importance in parts
of the Panjáb districts of Attock and Mianwálí. The Pathán is a democrat
and often a fanatic, more under the influence of _mullahs_ than of the
_maliks_ or headmen of his tribe. He has not the frank straightforward
nature of the Biluch, is untiring in pursuit of revenge, and is not free
from cruelty. But, when he has eaten the _Sarkár's_ salt, he is a very
brave and dashing soldier, and he is a faithful host to anyone whom he
has admitted under his roof.
~Awáns.~--The home of the Awán in the Panjáb is the Salt Range and the
parts of Attock and Mianwálí, lying to the north of it, and this tract
of country is known as the Awánkárí. In the N.W.F. Province they are,
after the Patháns, by far the largest tribe, and are specially numerous
in Pesháwar and Hazára.
~Shekhs.~--Of the Shekhs about half are Kureshís, Sadíkís, and Ansárís of
foreign origin and high social standing. The rest are new converts to
Islám, often of the sweeper caste originally.
~Saiyyids.~--Saiyyids are unsatisfactory landowners, and are kept going by
the offerings of their followers. They are mostly Shias. It is not
necessary to believe that they are all descended from the Prophet's
son-in-law, Ali. A native proverb with pardonable exaggeration says:
"The first year I was a weaver (Juláha), the next year a Shekh. This
year, if prices rise, I shall be a Saiyyid."
~Trading Castes.~--Aroras are the traders of the S.W. Panjáb and of the
N.W.F. Province. They share the Central Panjáb with the Khatrís, who
predominate in the north-western districts. The Khatrí of the
Ráwalpindí division is often a landowner and a first-class fighting
man. Some of our strongest Indian civil officials have been Aroras. In
the Delhi division the place of the Arora and Khatrí is taken by the
Bania, and in Kángra by the Súd or the Brahman. Khojas and Paráchas are
Muhammadan traders.
~Artizans and Menials.~--Among artizans and menials Sunárs (goldsmiths),
Rájes (masons), Lohárs (blacksmiths), and Tarkháns (carpenters) take the
first rank.
~Impure Castes.~--The vast majority of the impure castes, the
"untouchables" of the Hindu religion, are scavengers and workers in
leather. The sweeper who embraces Islám becomes a Musallí. The Sikh
Mazhbís, who are the descendants of sweeper converts, have done
excellent service in our Pioneer regiments. The Hindu of the Panjáb in
his avoidance of "untouchables" has never gone to the absurd lengths of
the high caste Madrásí, and the tendency is towards a relaxation of
existing restrictions.
~Mendicants.~--Men of religion living on charity, wandering _fakírs_, are
common sights, and beggars are met with in the cities, who sometimes
exhibit their deformities with unnecessary insistence.
~Kashmírís.~--According to the census return the number of Kashmírí
Musulmáns, who make up 60 p.c. of the inhabitants of the Jhelam valley,
was 765,442. They are no doubt mostly descendants of various Hindu
castes, perhaps in the main of Hill Brahmans, but Islám has wiped out
all tribal distinctions. Sir Walter Lawrence wrote of them: "The
Kashmírí is unchanged in spite of the splendid Moghal, the brutal
Afghán, and the bully Sikh. Warriors and statesmen came and went; but
there was no egress, and no wish ... in normal times to leave their
homes. The outside world was far, and from all accounts inferior to the
pleasant valley.... So the Kashmírís lived their self-centred life,
conceited, clever, and conservative."
The Hindu Kashmírí Pandits numbered 55,276.
~Tribes of Jammu.~--Agricultural Brahmans are numerous in the Jammu
province. Thakkars and Meghs are important elements of the population of
the outer hills. The former are no doubt by origin Rájputs, but they
have cast off many Rájput customs. The Meghs are engaged in weaving and
agriculture, and are regarded as more or less impure by the higher
castes.
[Illustration: Fig. 32. Blind Beggar.]
~Gújars.~--Gújars in the Mahárája's territories are almost always
graziers. In 1911 they numbered 328,003.
~Dard Tribes of Astor and Gilgit.~--The people of Astor and Gilgit are
Dards speaking Shina and professing Islám. Sir Aurel Stein wrote of
them: "The Dard race which inhabits the valleys N. of (the Inner
Himálaya) as far as the Hindu Kush is separated from the Kashmírí
population by language as well as by physical characteristics.... There
is little in the Dard to enlist the sympathies of the casual observer.
He lacks the intelligence, humour, and fine physique of the Kashmírí,
and, though undoubtedly far braver than the latter, has none of the
independent spirit and manly bearing which draw us towards the Pathán
despite all his failings. But I can never see a Dard without thinking of
the thousands of years of struggle they have carried on with the harsh
climate and the barren soil of their mountains[3]."
[Illustration: Fig. 33. Dards.]
~Kanjútís.~--The origin of the Kanjútís of Hunza is uncertain, and so are
the relationships of their language.
~Mongoloid Population of Ladákh.~--The population of Ladákh and Báltistán
is Mongoloid, but the Báltís (72,439) have accepted Islám and polygamy,
while the Ladákhís have adhered to Buddhism and polyandry.
[Illustration: Fig. 34. Map showing races.]
~Ethnological theories.~--In _The People of India_ the late Sir Herbert
Risley maintained that the inhabitants of Rájputána, nearly the whole of
the Panjáb, and a large part of Kashmír, whatever their caste or social
status, belonged with few exceptions to a single racial type, which he
called Indo-Aryan. The Biluches of Dera Ghází Khán and the Patháns of
the N.W.F. Province formed part of another group which he called
Turko-Iranian. The people of a strip of territory on the west of the
Jamna he held to be of the same type as the bulk of the inhabitants of
the United Provinces, and this type he called Aryo-Dravidian. Finally
the races occupying the hills in the north-east and the adjoining part
of Kashmír were of Mongol extraction, a fact which no one will dispute.
Of the Indo-Aryan type Sir Herbert Risley wrote: "The stature is mostly
tall, complexion fair, eyes dark, hair on face plentiful, head long,
nose narrow and prominent, but not specially long." He believed that the
Panjáb was occupied by Aryans, who came into the country from the west
or north-west with their wives and children, and had no need to contract
marriages with the earlier inhabitants. The Aryo-Dravidians of the
United Provinces resulted from a second invasion or invasions, in which
the Aryan warriors came alone and had to intermarry with the daughters
of the land, belonging to the race which forms the staple of the
population of Central India and Madras. This theory was based on
measurements of heads and noses, and it seems probable that deductions
drawn from these physical characters are of more value than any evidence
based on the use of a common speech. But it is hard to reconcile the
theory with the facts of history even in the imperfect shape in which
they have come down to us, or to believe that Sakas, Yuechí, and White
Huns (see historical section) have left no traces of their blood in the
province. If such there are, they may perhaps be found in some of the
tribes on both sides of the Salt Range, such as Gakkhars, Janjúas, Awáns
Tiwánas, Ghebas, and Johdras, who are fine horsemen and expert
tent-peggers, not "tall heavy men without any natural aptitude for
horsemanship," as Sir Herbert Risley described his typical Panjábí (p.
59 of his book).
[Illustration: Fig. 35. Map showing distribution of languages.]
~Languages.~--In the area dealt with in this book no less than eleven
languages are spoken, and the dialects are very numerous. It is only
possible to tabulate the languages and indicate on the map the
localities in which they are spoken. For the Panjáb the figures of the
recent census are:
A 1. Tibeto-Chinese 41,607
B. Aryan:
(_a_) Iranian: 2. Pashtu 67,174
3. Biluchí 70,675
4. Kohistání 26
(_b_) Indian: 5. Kashmírí 7,190
6. Pahárí 993,363
7. Lahndí 4,253,566
8. Sindhí 24
9. Panjábí 14,111,215
10. Western Hindi 3,826,467
11. Rájasthání 725,850
The eastern part of the Indus valley in Kashmír forming the provinces of
Ladákh and Báltistán is occupied by a Mongol population speaking
Tibeto-Chinese dialects. Kashmírí is the language of Kashmír Proper, and
various dialects of the Shina-Khowár group comprehensively described as
Kohistání are spoken in Astor, Gilgit, and Chilás, and to the west of
Kashmír territory in Chitrál and the Kohistán or mountainous country at
the top of the Swát river valley. Though Kashmírí and the Shina-Khowár
tongues belong to the Aryan group, their basis is supposed to be
non-Sanskritic, and it is held that there is a strong non-Sanskritic or
Pisácha element also in Lahndí or western Panjábí, which is also the
prevailing speech in the Hazára and Dera Ismail Khán districts of the
N.W.F. Province, and is spoken in part of the Jammu province of Kashmír.
Pashtu is the common language in Pesháwar, Kohát, and Bannu, and is
spoken on the western frontiers of Hazára and Dera Ismail Khán, and in
the independent tribal territory in the west between the districts of
the N.W.F. Province and the Durand Line and immediately adjoining the
Pesháwar district on the north. Rájasthání is a collective name for the
dialects of Rájputána, which overflow into the Panjáb, occupying a
strip along the southern frontier from Baháwalpur to Gurgáon. The
infiltration of English words and phrases into the languages of the
province is a useful process and as inevitable as was the enrichment of
the old English speech by Norman-French. But for the present the results
are apt to sound grotesque, when the traveller, who expects a train to
start at the appointed time, is told: "_tren late hai, lekin singal down
hogaya_" (the train is late, but the signal has been lowered), or the
criticism is passed on a popular officer: "_bahut affable hai, lekin
hand shake nahín kartá_" (very affable, but doesn't shake hands).
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 3: _Sand Buried Ruins Of Khotan_, pp. 14-15.]
CHAPTER X
THE PEOPLE (_continued_): RELIGIONS
~Religions in N.W.F. Province.~--In the N.W.F. Province an overwhelming
majority of the population professes Islám. In 1911 there were 2,039,994
Musalmáns as compared with 119,942 Hindus, 30,345 Sikhs, and 6585
Christians.
~Religions in Kashmír.~--In Kashmír the preponderance of Muhammadans is
not so overwhelming. The figures are:
Muhammadans 2,398,320
Hindus 690,390
Buddhists 36,512
Sikhs 31,553
The Hindus belong mostly to the Jammu province, where nearly half of the
population professes that faith. The people of Kashmír, Báltistán, Astor
and Gilgit, Chilás and Hunza Nagár, are Musalmáns. The Ladákhís are
Buddhists.
~Religions in Panjáb.~--The distribution by religions of the population of
the Panjáb and its native States in 1911 was:
Muhammadans 12,275,477 or 51 p.c.
Hindus 8,773,621 or 36 p.c.
Sikhs 2,883,729 or 12 p.c.
Others, chiefly Christian (199,751) 254,923 or 1 p.c.
[Illustration: Fig. 36. Map showing distribution of religions.]
The strength of the Muhammadans is in the districts west of the Biás and
the Sutlej below its junction with the Biás. 83 p.c. of the subjects of
the Nawáb of Baháwalpur are also Muhammadans. In all this western region
there are few Hindus apart from the shopkeepers and traders. On the
other hand the hill country in the north-east is purely Hindu, except on
the borders of Tibet, where the scanty population professes Buddhism.
While Hinduism is the predominant faith in the south-east, quite a
fourth of the people there are Musalmáns. Sikhs nowhere form a majority.
The districts in the eastern part of the Central Plains where they
constitute more than one-fifth of the population are indicated in the
map. In six districts, Lahore, Montgomery, Gujránwála, Lyallpur,
Hoshyárpur, and Ambála the proportion is between 10 and 20 p.c.
[Illustration: Fig. 37. Raghunáth Temple, Jammu.]
~Growth and Decline in numbers.~--There was a slight rise in the number of
Muhammadans between 1901 and 1911. Their losses in the central
districts, where the plague scourge has been heaviest, were
counterbalanced by gains in the western tract, where its effect has been
slight. On the other hand the decrease under Hindus amounts to nearly
15 p.c. The birth-rate is lower and the death-rate higher among Hindus
than among Musalmáns, and their losses by plague in the central and some
of the south-eastern districts have been very heavy. A change of
sentiment on the part of the Sikh community has led to many persons
recording themselves as Sikhs who were formerly content to be regarded
as Hindus. It must be remembered that one out of four of the recorded
Hindus belongs to impure castes, who even in the Panjáb pollute food and
water by their touch and are excluded from the larger temples. Since
1901 a considerable number of Chúhras or Sweepers have been converted to
Islám and Christianity.
[Illustration: Fig. 38. Golden Temple, Amritsar.]
~Sikhs.~--Notwithstanding heavy losses by plague Sikhs have increased by
37 p.c. A great access of zeal has led to many more Sikhs becoming
_Kesdhárís_. _Sajhdhárís_ or _Múnas_, who form over one-fifth of the
whole Sikh community, were in 1901 classed as Hindus. They are followers
of Bába Nának, cut their hair, and often smoke. When a man has taken the
"_pahul_," which is the sign of his becoming a _Kesdhárí_ or follower of
Guru Govind, he must give up the _hukka_ and leave his hair unshorn. The
future of Sikhism is with the _Kesdhárís_.
[Illustration: Fig. 39. Mosque in Lahore City.]
~Muhammadans.~--In the eastern districts the conversions to Islám were
political, and Hindu and Muhammadan Rájputs live peaceably together in
the same village. The Musalmáns have their mosque for the worship of
Allah, but were, and are still, not quite sure that it is prudent wholly
to neglect the godlings. The conversion of the western Panjáb was the
result largely of missionary effort. _Pírí murídí_ is a great
institution there. Every man should be the "_muríd_" or pupil of some
holy man or _pír_, who combines the functions in the Roman Catholic
Church of spiritual director in this world and the saint in heaven. The
_pír_ may be the custodian of some little saint's tomb in a village, or
of some great shrine like that of Baba Faríd at Pákpattan, or Baháwal
Hakk at Multán, or Taunsa Sharif in Dera Ghází Khán, or Golra in
Ráwalpindí. His own holiness may be more official than personal. About
1400 A.D. the Kashmírís were offered by their Sultán Sikandar the choice
between conversion and exile, and chose the easier alternative. Like the
western Panjábís they are above all things saint-worshippers. The
ejaculations used to stimulate effort show this. The embankment builder
in the south-western Panjáb invokes the holy breath of Baháwal Hakk, and
the Kashmírí boatman's cry "Yá Pír, dast gír," "Oh Saint, lend me a
hand," is an appeal to their national saint.
~Effect of Education.~--The Musalmáns of the western Panjáb have a great
dislike to Sikhs, dating from the period of the political predominance
of the latter. So far the result of education has been to accentuate
religious differences and animosities. Both Sikhs and Musalmáns are
gradually dropping ideas and observances retained in their daily life
after they ceased to call themselves Hindus. On the other hand, within
the Hindu fold laxity is now the rule rather than the exception, and the
neglect of the old ritual and restrictions is by no means confined to
the small but influential reforming minority which calls itself Árya
Samáj.
~Christians.~--The number of Christians increased threefold between 1901
and 1911. The Presbyterian missionaries have been especially successful
in attracting large numbers of outcastes into the Christian Church.
[Illustration: Fig. 40. God and Goddess, Chamba.]
~Hinduism in the Panjáb.~--Hinduism has always been, and to-day is more
than ever, a very elastic term. The Census Superintendent, himself a
high caste Hindu, wrote: "The definition which would cover the Hindu of
the modern times is that he should be born of parents not belonging to
some recognised religion other than Hinduism, marry within the same
limits, believe in God, respect the cow, and cremate the dead." There is
room in its ample folds for the Árya Samájist, who rejects idol worship
and is divesting himself of caste prejudices and marriage restrictions,
and the most orthodox Sanátan dharmist, who carries out the whole
elaborate daily ritual of the Brahmanical religion, and submits to all
its complicated rules; for the ordinary Hindu trader, who is equally
orthodox by profession, but whose ordinary religious exercises are
confined to bathing in the morning; for the villager of the eastern
districts, who often has the name of Parameshvar or the Supreme Lord on
his lips, but who really worships the godlings, Gúgá Pír, Sarwar or
Sultán Pír, Sítla (the small-pox goddess), and others, whose little
shrines we see round the village site; and for the childish idolaters of
Kulu, who carry their local deities about to visit each other at fairs,
and would see nothing absurd in locking them all up in a dungeon if rain
held off too long.
[Illustration: Fig. 41. A Kulu godling and his attendants.]
CHAPTER XI
THE PEOPLE (_continued_): EDUCATION
~Educational progress.~--According to the census returns of 1911 there are
not four persons per 100 in the province who are "literate" in the sense
of being able to read and write a letter. The proportion of literacy
among Hindus and Sikhs is three times as great as among Muhammadans. In
1911-12 one boy in six of school-going age was at school or college and
one girl in 37. This may seem a meagre result of sixty years of work,
for the Government and Christian missionaries, who have had an
honourable connection with the educational history of the province,
began their efforts soon after annexation, and a Director of Public
Instruction was appointed as long ago as 1856. But a country of small
peasant farmers is not a very hopeful educational field, and the rural
population was for long indifferent or hostile. If an ex-soldier of the
_Khálsa_ had expressed his feelings, he would have used words like those
of the "Old Pindárí" in Lyall's poem, while the Muhammadan farmer, had
he been capable of expressing his hostility, might have argued that the
teaching his son could get in a village school would help him not at all
in his daily work. Things are better now. We have improved our scheme of
teaching, and of late raised the pay of the teachers, which is, however,
still hardly adequate. Till a better class of teachers can be secured
for primary schools, the best educational theories will not bear fruit
in practice. The old indifference is weakening, and the most hopeful
sign is the increasing interest taken in towns in female education, a
matter of the first importance for the future of the country.
~Present position.~--The present position is as follows:--The Government
has made itself directly or indirectly responsible for the education of
the province. At the headquarters of each district there is a high
school for boys controlled by the Education Department. In each district
there are Government middle schools, Anglo-vernacular or Vernacular,
and primary schools, managed by the Municipal Committees and District
Boards. Each middle school has a primary, and each high school a primary
and a middle, department. For the convenience of pupils who cannot
attend school while living at home hostels are attached to many middle
and high schools. Fees are very moderate. In middle schools, where the
income covers 56 p.c. of the expenditure, they range from R. 1 (16
pence) monthly in the lowest class in which they are levied to Rs. 4 (5
shillings) in the highest class. In rural primary schools the children
of agriculturists are exempt because they pay local rate, and others,
when not exempt on the score of poverty, pay nominal fees. Besides the
Government schools there are aided schools of the above classes usually
of a sectarian character, and these, if they satisfy the standards laid
down, receive grants. There is a decreasing, but still considerable,
class of private schools, which make no attempt to satisfy the
conditions attached to these grants. The _mullah_ in the mosque teaches
children passages of the Kurán by rote, or the shopkeeper's son is
taught in a Mahájaní school native arithmetic and the curious script in
which accounts are kept. A boys' school of a special kind is the Panjáb
Chiefs' College at Lahore, intended for the sons of princes and men of
high social position.
~Technical Schools.~--In an agricultural country like the Panjáb there is
not at present any large field for technical schools. The best are the
Mayo School of Art and the Railway Technical School at Lahore. The
latter is successful because its pupils can readily find employment in
the railway workshops. Mr Kipling, the father of the poet, when
principal of the former, did much for art teaching, and the present
principal, Bhai Rám Singh, is a true artist. The Government Engineering
School has recently been remodelled and removed to Rasúl, where the
head-works of the Lower Jhelam canal are situated.
[Illustration: Fig. 42. A School in the time preceding annexation.
(_From a picture book said to have been prepared for the Mahárája Dalíp
Singh._)]
~Female Education.~--Female education is still a tender plant, but of late
growth has been vigorous. The Victoria May School in Lahore founded in
1908 has developed into the Queen Mary College, which provides an
excellent education for girls of what may be called the upper middle
class. There is a separate class for married ladies. Hitherto they have
only been reached by the teaching given in their own homes by missionary
ladies, whose useful work is now being imitated by the Hindu community
in Lahore. There is an excellent Hindu Girls' Boarding School in
Jalandhar. The Sikhs and the body of reformers known as the Dev Samáj
have good girls' schools at Ferozepore. The best mission schools are the
Kinnaird High School at Lahore and the Alexandra School at Amritsar. The
North India School of Medicine for Women at Ludhiána, also a missionary
institution, does admirable work. In the case of elementary schools the
difficulty of getting qualified teachers is even greater than as regards
boys' schools.
~Education of European Children.~--There are special arrangements for the
education of European and Anglo-Indian children. In this department the
Roman Catholics have been active and successful. The best schools are
the Lawrence Asylum at Sanáwar, Bishop Cotton's School, Auckland House,
and St Bede's at Simla, St Denys', the Lawrence Asylum, and the Convent
School at Murree.
~The Panjáb University.~--The Panjáb University was constituted in 1882,
but the Government Arts College and Oriental College, the Medical
College and the Law School at Lahore, which are affiliated with it, are
of older date. The University is an examining body like London
University. Besides the two Arts Colleges under Government management
mentioned above there are nine private Arts Colleges aided by Government
grants and affiliated to the University. Four of these are in Lahore,
two, the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic and the Diál Singh Colleges, are Hindu
institutions, one, the Islámia College, is Muhammadan, the fourth is the
popular and efficient Forman Christian College. Four out of five art
students read in Lahore. Of the Arts colleges outside Lahore the most
important is the St Stephen's College at Delhi. The Khálsa School and
College at Amritsar is a Sikh institution. The Veterinary College at
Lahore is the best of its kind in India, and the Agricultural College at
Lyallpur is a well-equipped institution, which at present attracts few
pupils, but may play a very useful rôle in the future. There is little
force in the reproach that we built up a super-structure of higher
education before laying a broad foundation of primary education. There
is more in the charge that the higher educational food we have offered
has not been well adapted to the intellectual digestions of the
recipients.
~Education in N.W.F. Province, Native States, and I Kashmír.~--The Panjáb
Native States and Kashmír are much more backward as regards education
than the British Province. As is natural in a tract in which the
population is overwhelmingly Musalmán by religion and farming by trade
the N.W.F. Province lags behind the Panjáb. Six colleges in the States
and the N.W.F. Province are affiliated to the Panjáb University.
CHAPTER XII
ROADS AND RAILWAYS
~Roads.~--The alignment of good roads in the plains of the Panjáb is easy,
and the deposits of calcareous nodules or _kankar_ often found near the
surface furnish good metalling material. In the west the rainfall is so
scanty and in many parts wheeled traffic so rare that it is often wise
to leave the roads unmetalled. There are in the Panjáb over 2000 miles
of metalled, and above 20,000 miles of unmetalled roads. The greatest
highway in the world, the Grand Trunk, which starts from Calcutta and
ends at Pesháwar, passes through the province from Delhi in the
south-east to Attock in the extreme north-west corner, and there crosses
the Indus and enters the N.W.F. Province. The greater part of the
section from Karnál to Lahore had been completed some years before the
Mutiny, that from Lahore to Pesháwar was finished in 1863-64. A great
loop road connects our arsenal at Ferozepore with the Grand Trunk Road
at Lahore and Ludhiána. The fine metalled roads from Ambála to Kálka,
and Kálka to Simla have lost much of their importance since the railway
was brought to the hill capital. Beyond Simla the Kálka-Simla road is
carried on for 150 miles to the Shipkí Pass on the borders of Tibet,
being maintained as a very excellent hill road adapted to mule carriage.
A fine tonga road partly in the plains and partly in the hills joins
Murree with Ráwalpindí. From Murree it drops into the Jhelam valley
crossing the river and entering Kashmír at Kohála. It is carried up the
gorge of the Jhelam to Báramúla and thence through the Kashmír valley to
Srínagar. A motor-car can be driven all the way from Ráwalpindí to
Srínagar. In the N.W.F. Province a great metalled road connects
Pesháwar, Kohát, Bannu, and Dera Ismail Khán.
[Illustration: Fig. 43. Poplar lined road to Srínagar.]
~Railways. Main Lines.~--It is just over fifty years since the first
railway, a short line joining Lahore and Amritsar, was opened in 1862.
Three years later Lahore was linked up with Multán and the small
steamers which then plied on the Indus. Amritsar was connected with
Delhi in 1870, and Lahore with Pesháwar in 1883. The line from Pesháwar
to Lahore, and branching thence to Karáchí and Delhi may be considered
the Trunk Line. The railway service has been enormously developed in the
past thirty years. In 1912 there were over 4000 miles of open lines.
There are now three routes from Delhi to Lahore:
[Illustration: Fig. 44. Map showing railways.]
(_a_) The N.W. Railway _via_ Meerut and Saháranpur (on east of Jamna),
and Ambála, Ludhiána, Jalandhar, Amritsar;
(_b_) The Southern Panjáb Railway _via_ Jind, Rohtak, Bhatinda, and
Ferozepore;
(_c_) The Delhi-Ambála-Kálka branch of the East Indian Rallway from
Delhi through Karnál to Ambála, and thence by the N.W. Railway. This is
the shortest route.
The Southern Panjáb Railway also connects Delhi with Karáchí through its
junction with the N.W. Railway at Samasata to the south of Baháwalpur.
Another route is by a line passing through Rewárí and the Merta
junction. Karáchí is the natural seaport of the central and western
Panjáb. The S.P. Railway now gives an easy connection with Ferozepore
and Ludhiána, and the enormous export of wheat, cotton, etc. from the
new canal colonies is carried by several lines which converge at
Khanewál, a junction on the main line, a little north of Multán.
~Railways. Minor Lines.~--The Sind Ságar branch starting from Lála Musa
between Lahore and Amritsar with smaller lines taking off further north
at Golra and Campbellpur serves the part of the province lying north of
the Salt Range. These lines converge at Kundian in the Mianwálí
district, and a single line runs thence southwards to points on the
Indus opposite Dera Ismail Khán and Dera Ghází Khán, and turning
eastwards rejoins the trunk line at Sher Sháh near Multán. There are a
number of branch lines in the plains, some owned by native States.
Strategically a very important one is that which crossing the Indus by
the Khushálgarh bridge unites Ráwalpindí with Kohát. The only hill
railway is that from Kálka to Simla. A second is now under construction
which, when completed, will connect Ráwalpindí with Srínagar. All these
lines with the exception of the branch of the E.I. Railway mentioned
above are worked by the staff of the N. W. State Railway, whose manager
controls inside and outside the Panjáb some 5000 miles of open line. The
interest earned in 1912 was 4-1/2 p.c., a good return when it is
considered that the parts of the system to the north of the Salt Range
and the Sind Ságar railway were built primarily for strategic reasons.
CHAPTER XIII
CANALS
~Importance of Canals.~--One need have no hesitation in placing among the
greatest achievements of British rule in the Panjáb the magnificent
system of irrigation canals which it has given to the province. Its
great alluvial plain traversed by large rivers drawing an unfailing
supply of water from the Himalayan snows affords an ideal field for the
labours of the canal engineer. The vastness of the arid areas which
without irrigation yield no crops at all or only cheap millets and
pulses makes his works of inestimable benefit to the people and a source
of revenue to the State.
~Canals before annexation.~--In the west of the province we found in
existence small inundation canals dug by the people with some help from
their rulers. These only ran during the monsoon season, when the rivers
were swollen. In 1626 Sháhjahán's Persian engineer, Ali Mardán Khán,
brought to Delhi the water of the canal dug by Firoz Sháh as a monsoon
channel and made perennial by Akbar. But during the paralysis of the
central power in the eighteenth century the channels became silted up.
The same able engineer dug a canal from the Ráví near Mádhopur to water
the royal gardens at Lahore. What remained of this work at annexation
was known as the Haslí.
~Extent of Canal Irrigation.~--In 1911-12, when the deficiency of the
rainfall made the demand for water keen, the canals of the Panjáb and
the N.W.F. Province irrigated 8-1/2 millions of acres. The figures are:
_Panjáb_
A. Permanent Canals Acres Interest earned %
1. Western Jamna 775,450 7-3/4
2. Sirhind 1,609,458 8
3. Upper Bárí Doáb 1,156,808 11-1/2
4. Lower Chenáb 2,334,090 34
5. Lower Jhelam 801,649 10-1/3
B. Monsoon Canals 1,654,437
Total 8,331,892
_N.W. Frontier Province_
Acres Interest earned %
Lower Swát River 157,650 9-3/4
Two minor Canals 67,510
Total 225,160
On the Sirhind Canal, on which the demand fluctuates greatly with the
character of the season, the area was twice the normal. The three canals
of the Triple Project will, when fully developed, add 1,871,000 acres to
the irrigated area of the Panjáb, and the Upper Swát Canal will increase
that of the N.W.F. Province by 381,000 acres. The canals will therefore
in a year of drought be able to water over ten millions of acres without
taking account of possible extensions if a second canal should be drawn
from the Sutlej. The money spent from imperial funds on Panjáb canals
has exceeded twelve millions sterling, and no money has ever been better
spent. In, when the area irrigated was a good deal less than in, the
value of the crops raised by the use of canal water was estimated at
about 207 millions of rupees or nearly £14,000,000. It is only possible
to note very briefly the steps by which this remarkable result has been
achieved.
[Illustration: Fig. 45. Map--Older Canals.]
~Western Jamna Canal.~--Soon after the assumption of authority at Delhi in
1803 the question of the old Canal from the Jamna was taken up. The
Delhi Branch was reopened in 1819, and the Hánsí Branch six years later.
In the famine year nearly 400,000 acres were irrigated. For more than
half a century that figure represented the irrigating capacity of the
canal. The English engineers in the main retained the faulty Moghal
alignment, and waterlogging of the worst description developed. The
effect on the health of the people was appalling. After long delay the
canal was remodelled. The result has been most satisfactory in every
way. In the last decade of the nineteenth century the Sirsa Branch and
the Nardak Distributary were added, to carry water to parts of the
Karnál and Hissár districts where any failure of the monsoon resulted in
widespread loss of crops. If a scheme to increase the supply can be
carried out, further extension in tracts now very liable to famine will
become possible. In the six years ending the interest earned exceeded 8
p.c.
~Upper Bárí Doáb Canal.~--The headworks of the Upper Bárí Doáb Canal are
above Mádhopur near the point where the Ráví leaves the hills. The work
was started soon after annexation, but only finished in 1859. Irrigation
has grown from 90,000 acres in to 533,000 in, 861,000 in 1900-1, and
1,157,000 in. The later history of the canal consists mainly of great
extensions in the arid Lahore district, and the irrigation there is now
three-fifths of the whole. In parts of Amritsar, and markedly near the
city, waterlogging has become a grave evil, but remedial measures have
now been undertaken. The interest earned on the capital expenditure in
the six years ending averaged 11-1/2 p.c.
~Sirhind Canal.~--A quarter of a century passed after the Upper Bárí Doáb
Canal began working before the water of the Sutlej was used for
irrigation. The Sirhind Canal weir is at Rupar where the river emerges
from the Siwáliks. Patiála, Jínd, and Nábha contributed to the cost, and
own three of the five branches. But the two British branches are
entitled to nearly two-thirds of the water, which is utilized in the
Ludhiána and Ferozepore districts and in the Farídkot State. The soil of
the tract commanded is for the most part a light sandy loam, and in
years of good rainfall it repays dry cultivation. The result is that the
area watered fluctuates largely. But in the six years ending the
interest earned averaged 7 p.c., and the power of expansion in a bad
year is a great boon to the peasantry.
~Canal extensions in Western Panjáb.~--In the last quarter of a century
the chief task of the Canal Department in the Panjáb has been the
extension of irrigation to the Rechna and Jech Doábs and the lower part
of the Bárí Doáb. All three contained large areas of waste belonging to
the State, mostly good soil, but incapable of cultivation owing to the
scanty rainfall. Colonization has therefore been an important part of
all the later canal projects. The operations have embraced the
excavation of five canals.
~Lower Chenáb Canal.~--The Lower Chenáb Canal is one of the greatest
irrigation works in the world, the area commanded being 3-1/3 million
acres, the average discharge four or five times that of the Thames at
Teddington, and the average irrigated area 2-1/4 million acres. There
are three main branches, the Rakh, the Jhang, and the Gugera. The supply
is secured by a great weir built across the Chenáb river at Khánkí in
the Gujránwála district, and the irrigation is chiefly in the
Gujránwála, Lyallpur, and Jhang districts. In the four years ending the
average interest earned was 28 p.c., and in future the rate should
rarely fall below 30 p.c. The capital expenditure has been a little over
£2,000,000. The interest charges were cleared about five years after the
starting of irrigation, and the capital has already been repaid to the
State twice over.
[Illustration: Fig. 46. Map--Canals.]
~Lower Jhelam Canal.~--The Lower Jhelam Canal, which waters the tract
between the Jhelam and Chenáb in the Sháhpur and Jhang districts, is a
smaller and less profitable work. The culturable commanded area is about
one million acres. The head-works are at Rasúl in the Gujrát district.
Irrigation began in 1901. In the four years ending 1911-12 the average
area watered was 748,000 acres and the interest earned exceeded 10 p.c.
~Triple Project--Upper Jhelam and Upper Chenáb Canals and Lower Bárí Doáb
Canal.~--The Lower Chenáb Canal takes the whole available supply of the
Chenáb river. But it does not command a large area in the Rechna Doáb
lying in the west of Gujránwála, in which rain cultivation is very risky
and well cultivation is costly. No help can be got from the Ráví, as the
Upper Bárí Doáb Canal exhausts its supply. Desirable as the extension of
irrigation in the areas mentioned above is, the problem of supplying it
might well have seemed insuperable. The bold scheme known as the Triple
Project which embraces the construction of the Upper Jhelam, Upper
Chenáb, and Lower Bárí Doáb Canals, is based on the belief that the
Jhelam river has even in the cold weather water to spare after feeding
the Lower Jhelam Canal. The true _raison d'être_ of the Upper Jhelam
Canal, whose head-works are at Mangla in Kashmír a little north of the
Gujrát district, is to throw a large volume of water into the Chenáb at
Khánkí, where the Lower Chenáb Canal takes off, and so set free an equal
supply to be taken out of the Chenáb higher up at Merála in Siálkot,
where are the head-works of the Upper Chenáb Canal. But the Upper Jhelam
Canal will also water annually some 345,000 acres in Gujrát and Sháhpur.
The Upper Chenáb Canal will irrigate 648,000 acres mostly in Gujránwála,
and will be carried across the Ráví by an aqueduct at Balloke in the
south of Lahore. Henceforth the canal is known as the Lower Bárí Doáb,
which will water 882,000 acres, mostly owned by the State, in the
Montgomery and Multán districts. On the other two canals the area of
Government land is not large. The Triple Project is approaching
completion, and irrigation from the Upper Chenáb Canal has begun. The
engineering difficulties have been great, and the forecast does not
promise such large gains as even the Lower Jhelam Canal. But a return of
7-1/2 p.c. is expected.
~Monsoon or Inundation Canals.~--The numerous monsoon or inundation
canals, which take off from the Indus, Jhelam, Chenáb, Ráví, and Sutlej,
though individually petty works, perform an important office in the
thirsty south-western districts. By their aid a _kharíf_ crop can be
raised without working the wells in the hot weather, and with luck the
fallow can be well soaked in autumn, and put under wheat and other
spring crops. For the maturing of these crops a prudent cultivator
should not trust to the scanty cold weather rainfall, but should
irrigate them from a well. The Sidhnai has a weir, but may be included
in this class, for there is no assured supply at its head in the Ráví in
the winter. In 1910-11 the inundation canals managed by the State
watered 1,800,000 acres. There are a number of private canals in
Ferozepore, Sháhpur, and the hill district of Kángra. In Ferozepore the
district authorities take a share in the management.
~Colonization of Canal Lands.~--The colonization of huge areas of State
lands has been an important part of new canal schemes in the west of the
Panjáb. When the Lower Chenáb Canal was started the population of the
vast Bár tract which it commands consisted of a few nomad cattle owners
and cattle thieves. It was a point of honour to combine the two
professions. Large bodies of colonists were brought from the crowded
districts of the central Panjáb. The allotments to peasants usually
consisted of 55 acres, a big holding for a man who possibly owned only
four or five acres in his native district. There were larger allotments
known as yeoman and capitalist grants, but the peasants are the only
class who have turned out quite satisfactory farmers. Colonization began
in 1892 and was practically complete by 1904, when over 1,800,000 acres
had been allotted. To save the peasants from the evils which an
unrestricted right of transfer was then bringing on the heads of many
small farmers in the Panjáb it was decided only to give them permanent
inalienable tenant right. The Panjáb Alienation of Land Act, No. XIII of
1900, has supplied a remedy generally applicable, and the peasant
grantees are now being allowed to acquire ownership on very easy terms.
The greater part of the colony is in the new Lyallpur district, which
had in 1911 a population of 857,511 souls.
On the Lower Jhelam Canal the area of colonized land exceeds 400,000
acres. A feature of colonization on that canal is that half the area is
held on condition of keeping up one or more brood mares, the object
being to secure a good class of remounts. Succession to these grants is
governed by primogeniture. On the Lower Bárí Doáb Canal a very large
area is now being colonized.
~Canals of the N.W.F. Province.~--Hemmed in as the N.W.F. Province is
between the Indus and the Hills, its canals are insignificant as
compared with the great irrigation works of the Panjáb. The only ones of
any importance are in the Pesháwar Valley. These draw their supplies
from the Kábul, Bára, and Swát rivers, but the works supplied by the
first two streams only command small areas. The Lower Swát Canal was
begun in 1876, but the tribesmen were hostile and the diggers had to
sleep in fortified enclosures. The work was not opened till 1885. A reef
in the river has made it possible to dispense with a permanent weir. The
country is not an ideal one for irrigation, being much cut up by
ravines. But a large area has been brought under command, and the
irrigation has more than once exceeded 170,000 acres. In 1911-12 it was
157,650 acres, and the interest earned was 9-3/4 p.c. The Upper Swát
Canal, which was opened in April 1914, was a more ambitious project,
involving the tunnelling at the Málakand of 11,000 feet of solid rock.
The commanded area is nearly 450,000 acres, including 40,000 beyond our
administrative frontier. The estimated cost is Rs. 18,240,000 or over
£1,200,000 and the annual irrigation expected is 381,562 acres.
[Illustration:
{ Kábul River Canal.
Areas commanded by { L. Swát Canal.
{ U. Swát Canal.
Fig. 47. Map of Canals of Pesháwar district.]
CHAPTER XIV
AGRICULTURE AND CROPS
~Classification by Zones.~--In order to give an intelligible account of
the huge area embraced by the Panjáb, N.W.F. Province, and Kashmír it is
necessary to make a division of the area into zones. Classification must
be on very broad lines based on differences of altitude, rainfall, and
soil, leading to corresponding differences in the cultivation and the
crops. For statistical purposes districts must be taken as a whole,
though a more accurate classification would divide some of them between
two zones.
~Classes of Cultivation.~--The broadest division of cultivation is into
irrigated and unirrigated, the former including well (_cháhí_), canal
(_nahrí_), and _ábí_. The last term describes a small amount of land
watered from tanks or _jhíls_ in the plains and a larger area in the
hills irrigated by _kuhls_ or small artificial channels. "Unirrigated"
embraces cultivation dependent on rain (_bárání_) or on flooding or
percolation from rivers (_sailáb_). (See Table II.)
~Harvests.~--There are two harvests, the autumn or _kharíf_, and the
spring or _rabí_. The autumn crops are mostly sown in June and July and
reaped from September to December. Cotton is often sown in March. Cane
planted in March and cut in January and February is counted as a
_kharíf_ crop. The spring crops are sown from the latter part of
September to the end of December. They are reaped in March and April.
Roughly in the Panjáb three-fifths of the crops belong to the spring
harvest. In the N.W.F. Province the proportion is somewhat higher. In
Kashmír the autumn crop is by far the more important.
[Illustration: Fig. 48. Persian Wheel Well and Ekka.]
~Implements of Husbandry and Wells.~--The implements of husbandry are
simple but effective in a land where as a rule there is no advantage in
stirring up the soil very deep. With his primitive plough (_hal_) and a
wooden clodcrusher (_sohága_) the peasant can produce a tilth for a crop
like cane which it would be hard to match in England. There are two
kinds of wells, the _charsa_ or rope and bucket well and the _harat_ or
Persian wheel.
~Rotations.~--The commonest rotation in ordinary loam soils is to put in a
spring and autumn crop in succession and then let the land lie fallow
for a year. Unless a good deal of manure is available this is the course
to follow, even in the case of irrigated land. Some poor hard soils are
only fit for crops of coarse rice sown after the embanked fields have
been filled in the monsoon by drainage from surrounding waste. Other
lands are cropped only in the autumn because the winter rainfall is very
scanty. Flooded lands are often sown only for the spring harvest.
[Illustration: Fig. 49. A drove of goats--Lahore.]
~Cattle, Sheep, and Goats.~--In 1909 there were in the British districts
of the Panjáb 4-1/4 million bullocks and 625,000 male buffaloes
available to draw 2,169,000 ploughs and 288,000 carts, thresh the corn,
and work a quarter of a million wells, besides sugar, oil, and flour
mills. The cattle of the hills, N.W. Panjáb, and riverain tracts are
undersized, but in the uplands of the Central Panjáb and S.E. districts
fine oxen are used. The horned cattle share 18 millions of pasture land,
much extremely poor, with 4 million sheep and 5-1/2 million goats.
Hence the enormous area devoted to fodder crops.
~Zones.~--Six zones can be distinguished, but, as no district is wholly
confined to the mountain zone, it must for statistical purposes be
united to the submontane zone:
(_a_) Mountain above 5000 feet Panjáb--Kángra, Simla, Native
States in Hills, Ambála,
Hoshyárpur.
(_b_) Submontane N.W.F. Province. Hazára,
Kashmír--whole
(_c_) North Central Plain Panjáb--Gujrát, Siálkot, Gurdáspur,
Amritsar, Jalandhar,
Ludhiána, Kapúrthala,
Malerkotla, Powádh
tract in Phulkian States.
(_d_) North-West Area Panjáb--Ráwalpindí, Jhelam,
Attock, Mianwálí.
N.W.F.P.--Pesháwar, Kohát,
Bannu.
(_e_) South-Western Plains Panjáb--Gujránwála, Lahore,
Sháhpur, Jhang, Lyallpur,
Montgomery, Multán,
Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghází
Khán, Baháwalpur.
N.W.F.P.--Dera Ismail Khán.
(_f_) South-Eastern Area Panjáb--Karnál, Rohtak, Gurgáon,
Hissár, Ferozepore,
Farídkot, Jangal tract in
Phulkian States, Native
States territory adjoining
Gurgáon and Rohtak.
~Mountain and Submontane Zones.~--In the Mountain Zone the fields are
often very minute, consisting of narrow terraces supported by stone
revetments built up the slopes of hills. That anyone should be ready to
spend time and labour on such unpromising material is a sign of pressure
of population on the soil, which is a marked feature of some hill
tracts.
[Illustration: Fig. 50. A steep bit of hill cultivation, Hazára.]
Below 8000 feet the great crop is maize. Potatoes have been introduced
near our hill stations. The chief pulse of the mountain zone is _kulath_
(Dolichos biflorus), eaten by the very poor. Wheat ascends to 8000 or
9000 feet, and at the higher levels is reaped in August. Barley is grown
at much greater heights. Buckwheat (_úgal_, _trúmba_, _dráwí_),
amaranth (_chauláí_, _ganhár_, _sariára_), and a tall chenopod (_bathu_)
are grown in the mountain zone. Buckwheat is common on poor stony lands.
[Illustration: Fig. 51. Preparing rice field in the Hills.]
The only comparatively flat land is on the banks above river beds, which
are devoted to rice cultivation, the water being conducted to the
embanked fields by an elaborate system of little canals or _kuhls_. This
is the only irrigation in the mountains, and is much valued. The
Submontane Zone has a rainfall of from 30 to 40 inches. Well irrigation
is little used and the dry crops are generally secure. Wheat and maize
are the great staples, but gram and _charí_, i.e. _jowár_ grown for
fodder, are also important. Some further information about Kashmír
agriculture will be found in a later chapter. For full details about
classes of cultivation and crops in all the zones Tables II, III and IV
should be consulted.
~North Central Panjáb Plain.~--The best soils and the finest tillage are
to be found in the North Central Zone. Gujrát has been included in it,
though it has also affinities in the north with the North-West area, and
in the south with the South-Western plain. The rainfall varies from 25
to 35 inches. One-third of the cultivated area is protected by wells,
and the well cultivation is of a very high class in Ludhiána and
Jalandhar, where heavily manured maize is followed by a fine crop of
wheat, and cane is commonly grown. In parts of Siálkot and Gujrát the
well cultivation is of a different type, the area served per well being
large and the object being to protect a big acreage of wheat in the
spring harvest. The chief crops in this zone are wheat and _charí_. The
latter is included under "Other Fodder" in Tables III and IV.
~North-Western Area.~--The plateau north of the Salt Range has a very
clean light white sandy loam soil requiring little ploughing and no
weeding. It is often very shallow, and this is one reason for the great
preference for cold weather crops. _Kharíf_ crops are more liable to be
burned up. Generally speaking the rainfall is from 15 to 25 inches, the
proportion falling in the winter and spring being larger than elsewhere.
There is, except in Pesháwar and Bannu, where the conditions involve a
considerable divergence from the type of this zone, practically no canal
irrigation. The well irrigation is unimportant and in most parts
consists of a few acres round each well intensively cultivated with
market-gardening crops. The dry crops are generally very precarious. In
Mianwálí the Indus valley is a fine tract, but the harvests fluctuate
greatly with the extent of the floods. The Thal in Mianwálí to the south
of the Sind Ságar railway is really a part of the next zone.
~The South-Western Plains.~--This zone contains nine districts. With the
exception of the three on the north border of the zone they have a
rainfall of from 5 to 10 inches. Of these six arid districts, only one,
Montgomery, has any dry cultivation worth mentioning. In the zone as a
whole three-fourths of the cultivation is protected by canals or wells,
or by both. In the lowlands near the great rivers cultivation depends on
the floods brought to the land direct or through small canals which
carry water to parts which the natural overflow would not reach. In the
uplands vast areas formerly untouched by the plough have been brought
under tillage by the help of perennial canals, and the process of
reclamation is still going on. The Thal is a large sandy desert which
becomes more and more worthless for cultivation as one proceeds
southwards. In the north the people have found out of late years that
this unpromising sand can not only yield poor _kharíf_ crops, but is
worth sowing with gram in the spring harvest. The expense is small, and
a lucky season means large profits. In Dera Ghází Khán a large area of
"_pat_" below the hills is dependent for cultivation on torrents. The
favourite crop in the embanked fields into which the water is diverted
is _jowár_.
~The South-Eastern Plains.~--In the south-eastern Panjáb except in Hissár
and the native territory on the border of Rájputána, the rainfall is
from 20 to 30 inches. In Hissár it amounts to some 15 inches. These are
averages; the variations in total amount and distribution over the
months of the year are very great. In good seasons the area under dry
crops is very large, but the fluctuations in the sown acreage are
extraordinary, and the matured is often far below the sown area. The
great crops are gram and mixtures of wheat or barley with gram in the
spring, and _bájra_ in the autumn, harvest. Well cultivation is not of
much importance generally, though some of it in the Jamna riverain is
excellent. The irrigated cultivation depends mainly on the Western Jamna
and Sirhind canals, and the great canal crops are wheat and cotton. This
is the zone in which famine conditions are still most to be feared.
In the Panjáb as a whole about one-third of the cultivated area is
yearly put under wheat, which with _bájra_ and maize is the staple food
of the people. A large surplus of wheat and oil-seeds is available for
export.
[Illustration: Fig. 52. Carved doorway.]
CHAPTER XV
HANDICRAFTS AND MANUFACTURES
~Handicrafts.~--The chief handicrafts of the province are those of the
weaver, the shoemaker, the carpenter, the potter, and the worker in
brass and copper. The figures of the 1911 census for each craft
including dependents were: weavers 883,000; shoemakers 540,000;
carpenters 381,000; potters and brickmakers 349,000; metalworkers
240,000. The figures for weavers include a few working in factories. The
hand-spun cotton-cloth is a coarse strong fabric known as "_khaddar_"
with a single warp and weft. "_Khes_" is a better article with a double
warp and weft. "_Súsí_" is a smooth cloth with coloured stripes used for
women's trousers. A superior kind of checked "_khes_" known as
"_gabrún_" is made at Ludhiána. The native process of weaving is slow
and the weavers are very poor. The Salvation Army is trying to introduce
an improved hand loom. Fine "_lungís_" or turbans of cotton with silk
borders are made at Ludhiána, Multán, Pesháwar, and elsewhere. Effective
cotton printing is carried on by very primitive methods at Kot Kamália
and Lahore. Ludhiána and Lahore turn out cotton _darís_ or rugs. Coarse
woollen blankets or _loís_ are woven at various places, and coloured
felts or _namdas_ are made at Ludhiána, Khusháb, and Pesháwar. Excellent
imitations of Persian carpets are woven at Amritsar, and the Srínagar
carpets do credit to the Kashmírís' artistic taste. The best of the
Amritsar carpets are made of _pashm_, the fine underwool of the Tibetan
sheep, and _pashmína_ is also used as a material for _choghas_
(dressing-gowns), etc. Coarse woollen cloth or _pattu_ is woven in the
Kángra hills for local use. At Multán useful rugs are made whose fabric
is a mixture of cotton and wool. More artistic are the Biluch rugs made
by the Biluch women with geometrical patterns. These are excellent in
colouring. They are rather difficult to procure as they are not made for
sale. The weaving of China silk is a common industry in Amritsar,
Baháwalpur, Multán, and other places. The _phulkárí_ or silk embroidery
of the village maidens of Hissár and other districts of the Eastern
Panjáb, and the more elaborate gold and silver wire embroideries of the
Delhi _bazárs_, are excellent. The most artistic product of the plains
is the ivory carving of Delhi. As a wood-carver the Panjábí is not to be
compared with the Kashmírí. His work is best fitted for doorways and the
bow windows or _bokhárchas_ commonly seen in the streets of old towns.
The best carvers are at Bhera, Chiniot, Amritsar, and Batála. The
European demand has produced at Simla and other places an abundant
supply of cheap articles of little merit. The inlaid work of Chiniot and
Hoshyárpur is good, as is the lacquer-work of Pákpattan. The papier
maché work of Kashmír has much artistic merit (Fig. 55), and some of the
repoussé silver work of Kashmír is excellent.
[Illustration: Fig. 53. Shoemaker's craft.]
The craft of the _thathera_ or brass worker is naturally most prominent
in the Eastern Panjáb, because Hindus prefer brass vessels for cooking
purposes. Delhi is the great centre, but the trade is actively carried
on at other places, and especially at Jagádhrí.
Unglazed pottery is made practically in every village. The blue
enamelled pottery of Multán and the glazed Delhi china ware are
effective. The manufacture of the latter is on a very petty scale.
[Illustration: Fig. 54. Carved windows.]
[Illustration: Fig. 55. Papier maché work ~of~ Kashmír.]
~Factories.~--The factory industries of the Panjáb are still very small.
In 1911 there were 268 factories employing 28,184 hands. The typical
Panjáb factory is a little cotton ginning or pressing mill. The grinding
of flour and husking of rice are sometimes part of the same business.
The number of these mills rose in the 20 years ending 1911 from 12 to
202, and there are complaints that there are now too many factories.
Cotton-spinning has not been very successful and the number of mills in
1911, eight, was the same as in 1903-4. The weaving is almost entirely
confined to yarn of low counts. Part is used by the hand-loom weavers
and part is exported to the United Provinces. Good woollen fabrics are
turned out at a factory at Dháriwál in the Gurdáspur district. There
were in 1911 fifteen flour mills, ten ironworks, three breweries, and
one distillery.
[Illustration: Fig. 56. The Potter.
(_From a picture book said to have been prepared for Mahárája Dalíp
Singh._)]
~Joint-Stock Companies.~--The Panjáb has not reached the stage where the
joint-stock business successfully takes the place of the family banking
or factory business. In 1911 there were 194 joint-stock companies. But
many of these were provident societies, the working of which has been
attended with such abuses that a special act has been passed for their
control. A number of banks and insurance companies have also sprung up
of late years. Of some of these the paid up capital is absurdly small,
and the recent collapse of the largest and of two smaller native banks
has drawn attention to the extremely risky nature of the business done.
Of course European and Hindu family banking businesses of the old type
stand on quite a different footing. Some of the cotton and other mills
are joint-stock concerns.
CHAPTER XVI
EXPORTS AND IMPORTS
~Trade.~--In 1911-12 the exports from the Panjáb, excluding those by land
to Central Asia, Ladákh, and Afghánistán, were valued at Rs.
27,63,21,000 (£18,421,000), of which 61 p.c. went to Karáchí and about
10 p.c. to Calcutta and Bombay. Of the total 27 p.c. consisted of wheat,
nearly the whole of which was dispatched to Karáchí. All other grains
and pulses were about equal in value to the wheat. "Gram and other
pulses" (18 p.c. of total exports) was the chief item. Raw cotton
accounts for 15, and oil-seeds for 10 p.c. The imports amounted in value
to Rs. 30,01,28,000 (£20,008,000), little more than one-third being
received from Karáchí. Cotton piece goods (Foreign 22, Indian 8-1/2
p.c.) make up one-third of the total. The other important figures are
sugar 12, and metals 11 p.c. The land trade with Afghánistán, Central
Asia, and Ladákh is insignificant, but interesting as furnishing an
example of modes of transport which have endured for many centuries, and
of the pursuit of gain often under appalling physical difficulties.
CHAPTER XVII
HISTORY--PRE-MUHAMMADAN PERIOD, 500 B.C.--1000 A.D.
~In Hindu period relations of Panjáb were with western kingdoms.~--The
large tract included in the British province of the Panjáb which lies
between the Jamna and the Ghagar is, having regard to race, language,
and past history, a part of Hindustán. Where "Panjáb" is used without
qualification in this section the territories west of the Ghagar and
south of Kashmír are intended. The true relations of the Panjáb and
Kashmír during the Hindu period were, except for brief intervals, with
Persia, Afghánistán, and Turkistán rather than with the great kingdoms
founded in the valley of the Ganges and the Jamna.
~Normal division into petty kingdoms and tribal confederacies.~--The
normal state of the Panjáb in early times was to be divided into a
number of small kingdoms and tribal republics. Their names and the areas
which they occupied varied from time to time. Names of kingdoms that
have been rescued from oblivion are Gandhára, corresponding to Pesháwar
and the valley of the Kábul river, Urasa or Hazára, where the name is
still preserved in the Orash plain, Táxila, which may have corresponded
roughly to the present districts of Ráwalpindí and Attock with a small
part of Hazára, Abhisara or the low hills of Jammu, Kashmír, and
Trigartta, with its capital Jalandhara, which occupied most of the
Jalandhar division north of the Sutlej and the states of Chamba, Suket,
and Mandí. The historians of Alexander's campaigns introduce us also to
the kingdoms of the elder Poros on both banks of the Jhelam, of the
younger Poros east of the Chenáb, and of Sophytés (Saubhutí) in the
neighbourhood of the Salt Range. We meet also with tribal confederacies,
such as in Alexander's time those of the Kathaioi on the upper, and of
the Malloi on the lower, Ráví.
~Invasion by Alexander, 327-325 B.C.~--The great Persian king, Darius, in
512 B.C. pushed out the boundary of his empire to the Indus, then
running in a more easternly course than to-day[4]. The army with which
Xerxes invaded Greece included a contingent of Indian bowmen[5]. When
Alexander overthrew the Persian Empire and started on the conquest of
India, the Indus was the boundary of the former. His remarkable campaign
lasted from April, 327 B.C., when he led an army of 50,000 or 60,000
Europeans across the Hindu Kush into the Kábul valley, to October, 325,
when he started from Sindh on his march to Persia through Makrán. Having
cleared his left flank by a campaign in the hills of Buner and Swát, he
crossed the Indus sixteen miles above Attock near Torbela. The King of
Táxila, whose capital was near the Margalla pass on the north border of
the present Ráwalpindí district, had prudently submitted as soon as the
Macedonian army appeared in the Kábul valley. From the Indus Alexander
marched to Táxila, and thence to the Jhelam (Hydaspes), forming a camp
near the site now occupied by the town of that name in the country of
Poros. The great army of the Indian king was drawn up to dispute the
passage probably not very far from the eastern end of the present
railway bridge. Favoured by night and a monsoon rain-storm--it was the
month of July, 326 B.C.--Alexander succeeded in crossing some miles
higher up into the Karrí plain under the low hills of Gujrát. Here,
somewhere near the line now occupied by the upper Jhelam Canal, the
Greek soldiers gave the first example of a feat often repeated since,
the rout of a large and unwieldy Indian army by a small, but mobile and
well-led, European force. Having defeated Poros, Alexander crossed the
Chenáb (Akesines), stormed Sángala, a fort of the Kathaioi on the upper
Ráví (Hydraotes) and advanced as far as the Biás (Hyphasis). But the
weary soldiers insisted that this should be the bourn of their eastward
march, and, after setting up twelve stone altars on the farther side,
Alexander in September, 326 B.C., reluctantly turned back. Before he
left the Panjáb he had hard fighting with the Malloi on the lower Ráví,
and was nearly killed in the storm of one of their forts. Alexander
intended that his conquests should be permanent, and made careful
arrangements for their administration. But his death in June, 323 B.C.,
put an end to Greek rule in India. Chandra Gupta Maurya expelled the
Macedonian garrisons, and some twenty years later Seleukos Nicator had
to cede to him Afghánistán.
~Maurya Dominion and Empire of Asoka, 323-231 B.C.~--Chandra Gupta is
the Sandrakottos, to whose capital at Pataliputra (Patna) Seleukos sent
Megasthenes in 303 B.C. The Greek ambassador was a diligent and truthful
observer, and his notes give a picture of a civilized and complex system
of administration. If Chandra Gupta was the David, his grandson,
Asoka, was the Solomon of the first Hindu Empire. His long reign,
lasting from 273 to 231 B.C., was with one exception a period of
profound peace deliberately maintained by an emperor who, after his
conversion to the teaching of Gautama Buddha, thought war a sin.
Asoka strove to lead his people into the right path by means of pithy
abstracts of the moral law of his master graven on rocks and pillars. It
is curious to remember that this missionary king was peacefully ruling a
great empire in India during the twenty-four years of the struggle
between Rome and Carthage, which we call the first Punic War. Of the
four Viceroys who governed the outlying provinces of the empire one had
his headquarters at Táxila. One of the rock edicts is at Mansehra in
Hazára and another at Sháhbázgarhí in Pesháwar. From this time and for
many centuries the dominant religion in the Panjáb was Buddhism, but the
religion of the villages may then have been as remote from the State
creed as it is to-day from orthodox Brahmanism.
~Graeco-Bactrian and Graeco-Parthian Rule.~--The Panjáb slipped from the
feeble grasp of Asoka's successors, and for four centuries it looked
not to the Ganges, but to the Kábul and the Oxus rivers.
[Illustration: Fig. 57. Coin--obverse and reverse of Menander.]
Up to the middle of the first century of our era it was first under
Graeco-Bactrian, and later under Graeco-Parthian, rule directly, or
indirectly through local rulers with Greek names or Sáka Satraps. The
Sákas, one of the central Asian shepherd hordes, were pushed out of
their pastures on the upper Jaxartes by another horde, the Yuechí.
Shadowy Hellenist Princes have left ~us~ only their names on coins; one
Menander, who ruled about 150 B.C., is an exception. He anticipated the
feats of later rulers of Kábul by a temporary conquest of North-Western
India, westwards to the Jamna and southwards to the sea.
~The Kushán Dynasty.~--The Yuechí in turn were driven southward to the
Oxus and the Kábul valley and under the Kushán dynasty established their
authority in the Panjáb about the middle of the first century. The most
famous name is that of Kanishka, who wrested from China Kashgár,
Yarkand, and Khotan, and assembled ~a~ notable council of sages of the law
in Kashmír. His reign may be dated from 120 to 150 A.D. His capital was
at Purushapura (Pesháwar), near which he built the famous relic tower of
Buddha, 400 feet high. Beside the tower was a large monastery still
renowned in the ninth and tenth centuries as a home of sacred learning.
The rule of Kushán kings in the Panjáb lasted till the end of the first
quarter of the third century. To their time belong the Buddhist
sculptures found in the tracts near their Pesháwar capital (see also
page 204).
~The Gupta Empire.~--Of the century preceding the establishment in 320
B.C. of the Gupta dynasty at Patna we know nothing. The Panjáb probably
again fell under the sway of petty rájas and tribal confederacies,
though the Kushán rule was maintained in Pesháwar till 465 A.D., when it
was finally blotted out by the White Huns. These savage invaders soon
after defeated Skanda Gupta, and from this blow the Gupta Empire never
recovered. At the height of its power in 400 A.D. under Chandra Gupta
II, known as Vikramaditya, who is probably the original of the
Bikramajít of Indian legends, it may have reached as far west as the
Chenáb.
~The White Huns or Ephthalites.~--In the beginning of the sixth century
the White Hun, Mahirakula, ruled the Panjáb from Sakala, the modern
Siálkot. He was a worshipper of Siva, and a deadly foe of the
Buddhist cult, and has been described as a monster of cruelty.
The short-lived dominion of the White Huns was destroyed by the Turks
and Persians about the year 565 A.D.
~Panjáb in seventh century A.D.~--From various sources, one of the most
valuable being the Memoirs of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Hiuen Tsang,
who travelled in India from 630 to 644 A.D., we know something of
Northern India in the first half of the seventh century. Hiuen Tsang was
at Kanauj as a guest of a powerful king named Harsha, whose first
capital was at Thanesar, and who held a suzerainty over all the rájas
from the Brahmaputra to the Biás. West of that river the king of Kashmír
was also overlord of Táxila, Urasa, Parnotsa (Punch), Rájapurí (Rajaurí)
and Sinhapura, which seems to have included the Salt Range. The Pesháwar
valley was probably ruled by the Turkí Shahiya kings of Kábul. The rest
of the Panjáb was divided between a kingdom called by Hiuen Tsang
Tsekhia, whose capital was somewhere near Siálkot, and the important
kingdom of Sindh, in which the Indus valley as far north as the Salt
Range was included. Harsha died in 647 A.D. and his empire collapsed.
~Kashmír under Hindu Kings.~--For the next century China was at the height
of its power. It established a suzerainty over Kashmír, Udyána (Swát),
Yasín, and Chitrál. The first was at this period a powerful Hindu
kingdom. Its annals, as recorded in Kalhana's Rájataranginí, bear
henceforward a real relation to history. In 733 A.D. King Muktapida
Lálitáditya received investiture from the Chinese Emperor. Seven years
later he defeated the King of Kanauj on the Ganges. A ruler who carried
his arms so far afield must have been very powerful in the Northern
Panjáb. The remains of the wonderful Mártand temple, which he built in
honour of the Sun God, are a standing memorial of his greatness. The
history of Kashmír under its Hindu kings for the next 400 years is for
the most part that of a wretched people ground down by cruel tyrants. A
notable exception was Avantidharman--855-883 A.D.--whose minister,
Suyya, carried out very useful drainage and irrigation works.
[Illustration: Fig. 58. Mártand Temple.]
~The Panjáb, 650-1000 A.D.~--We know little of Panjáb history in the 340
years which elapsed between the death of Harsha and the beginning of the
Indian raids of the Sultans of Ghazní in 986-7 A.D. The conquest of the
kingdom of Sindh by the Arab general, Muhammad Kásim, occurred some
centuries earlier, in 712 A.D. Multán, the city of the Sun-worshippers,
was occupied, and part at least of the Indus valley submitted to the
youthful conqueror. He and his successors in Sindh were tolerant rulers.
No attempt was made to occupy the Central Panjáb, and when the Turkish
Sultán, Sabaktagin, made his first raid into India in 986-7 A.D., his
opponent was a powerful rája named Jaipál, who ruled over a wide
territory extending from the Hakra to the frontier hills on the
north-west. His capital was at Bhatinda. Just about the time when the
rulers of Ghazní were laying the train which ended at Delhi and made it
the seat of a great Muhammadan Empire, that town was being founded in
993-4 A.D. by the Tunwar Rájputs, who then held sway in that
neighbourhood.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 4: See Sykes' _History of Persia_, pp. 179-180; also Herodotos
III. 94 and 98 and IV. 44.]
[Footnote 5: "The Indians clad with garments made of cotton had bows of
cane and arrows of cane tipped with iron."--Herodotos VII. 65.]
CHAPTER XVIII
HISTORY (_continued_). THE MUHAMMADAN PERIOD, 1000-1764 A.D.
~The Ghaznevide Raids.~--In the tenth century the Turks were the
janissaries of the Abbaside Caliphs of Baghdád, and ambitious soldiers
of that race began to carve out kingdoms. One Alptagin set up for
himself at Ghazní, and was succeeded in 976 A.D. by his slave
Sabaktagin, who began the long series of Indian raids which stained with
blood the annals of the next half-century. His son, Mahmúd of Ghazní, a
ruthless zealot and robber abroad, a patron of learning and literature
at home, added the Panjáb to his dominions. In the first 26 years of the
eleventh century he made seventeen marauding excursions into India. In
the first his father's opponent, Jaipál, was beaten in a vain effort to
save Pesháwar. Ten years later his successor, Anandpál, at the head of a
great army, again met the Turks in the Khaibar. The valour of the
Ghakkars had practically won the day, when Anandpál's elephant took
fright, and this accident turned victory into rout. In one or other of
the raids Multán and Lahore were occupied, and the temples of Kángra
(Nagarkot) and Thanesar plundered. In 1018 the Turkish army marched as
far east as Kanauj. The one permanent result of all these devastations
was the occupation of the Panjáb. The Turks made Lahore the capital.
~Decline of Buddhism.~--The iconoclastic raids of Mahmúd probably gave the
_coup de grâce_ to Buddhism. Its golden age may be put at from 250 B.C.
to 200 A.D. Brahmanism gradually emerged from retirement and reappeared
at royal courts. It was quite ready to admit Buddha to its pantheon, and
by so doing it sapped the doctrine he had taught. The Chinese pilgrim,
Fahien, in the early part of the fifth century could still describe
Buddhism in the Panjáb as "very flourishing," and he found numerous
monasteries. The religion seems however to have largely degenerated into
a childish veneration of relics.
~Conquest of Delhi.~--For a century and a quarter after the death of
Mahmúd in 1030 A.D. his line maintained its sway over a much diminished
empire. In 1155 the Afghán chief of Ghor, Alá ud dín, the "World-burner"
(Jahán-soz), levelled Ghazní with the ground. For a little longer the
Ghaznevide Turkish kings maintained themselves in Lahore. Between 1175
and 1186 Muhammad Ghorí, who had set up a new dynasty at Ghazní,
conquered Multán, Peshawar, Siálkot, and Lahore, and put an end to the
line of Mahmúd. The occupation of Sirhind brought into the field Prithví
Rája, the Chauhán Rájput king of Delhi. In 1191 he routed Muhammad Ghorí
at Naráina near Karnál. But next year the Afghán came back with a huge
host, and this time on the same battlefield fortune favoured him.
Prithví Rája was taken and killed, and Muhammad's slave, Kutbuddín
Aibak, whom he left to represent him in India, soon occupied Delhi. In
1203 Muhammad Ghorí had to flee for his life after a defeat near the
Oxus. The Ghakkars seized the chance and occupied Lahore. But the old
lion, though wounded, was still formidable. The Ghakkars were beaten,
and, it is said, converted. A year or two later they murdered their
conqueror in his tent near the Indus.
~Turkish and Afgháns Sultáns of Delhi.~--He had no son, and his strong
viceroy, Kutbuddín Aibak, became in 1206 the first of the 33 Muhammadan
kings, who in five successive dynasties ruled from Delhi a kingdom of
varying dimensions, till the last of them fell at Pánipat in 1526, and
Bábar, the first of the Moghals, became master of their red fort palace.
The blood-stained annals of these 320 years can only be lightly touched
on. Under vigorous rulers like the Turkí Slave kings, Altamsh
(1210-1236) and Balban (1266-1287), a ferocious and masterful boor like
Alá ud dín Khaljí (1296-1316), or a ferocious but able man of culture
like Muhammad Tughlak (1325-1351), the local governors at Lahore and
Multán were content to be servants. In the frequent intervals during
which the royal authority was in the hands of sottish wastrels, the
chance of independence was no doubt seized.
~Mongol Invasions.~--In 1221 the Mongol cloud rose on the north-west
horizon. The cruelty of these camel-riding Tatars and the terror they
inspired may perhaps be measured by the appalling picture given of their
bestial appearance. In 1221, Chingiz Khán descended on the Indus at the
heels of the King of Khwarizm (Khiva), and drove him into Sindh. Then
there was a lull for twenty years, after which the Mongol war hordes
ruined and ravaged the Panjáb for two generations. Two great Panjáb
governors, Sher Khán under Balban and Tughlak under Alá ud dín Khaljí,
maintained a gallant struggle against these savages. In 1297 and 1303
the Mongols came to the gates of Delhi, but the city did not fall, and
soon after they ceased to harry Northern India. During these years the
misery of the common people must often have been extreme. When foreign
raids ceased for a time they were plundered by their own rulers. In the
Panjáb the fate of the peasantry must have depended chiefly on the
character of the governor for the time being, and of the local
feudatories or _zamíndárs_, who were given the right to collect the
State's share of the produce on condition of keeping up bodies of armed
men for service when required.
~The Invasion of Timúr.~--The long reign of Muhammad Tughlak's successor,
Firoz Sháh (1351-1388), son of a Hindu Rájput princess of Dipálpur,
brought relief to all classes. Besides adopting a moderate fiscal
policy, he founded towns like Hissár and Fatehábád, dug canals from the
Jamna and the Sutlej, and carried out many other useful works. On his
death the realm fell into confusion. In 1398-99 another appalling
calamity fell upon it in the invasion of Timúrlang (Tamerlane), Khán of
Samarkand. He entered India at the head of 90,000 horsemen, and marched
by Multán, Dipálpur, Sirsa, Kaithal, and Pánipat to Delhi. What lust of
blood was to the Mongols, religious hatred was to Timúr and his Turks.
Ten thousand Hindus were put to the sword at Bhatner and 100,000
prisoners were massacred before the victory at Delhi. For the three
days' sack of the royal city Timúr was not personally responsible. Sated
with the blood of lakhs of infidels sent "to the fires of Hell" he
marched back through Kángra and Jammu to the Indus. Six years later the
House of Tughlak received a deadly wound when the Wazír, Ikbál Khan,
fell in battle with Khizr Khán, the governor of Multán.
~The later Dynasties.~--The Saiyyids, who were in power from 1414 to 1451,
only ruled a small territory round Delhi. The local governors and the
Hindu chiefs made themselves independent. Sikandar Lodí (1488-1518)
reduced them to some form of submission, but his successor, Ibrahím,
drove them into opposition by pushing authority further than his power
justified. An Afghán noble, Daulat Khán, rebelled in the Panjáb. There
is always an ear at Kábul listening to the first sounds of discord and
weakness between Pesháwar and Delhi. Bábar, a descendant of Timúr, ruled
a little kingdom there. In 1519 he advanced as far as Bhera. Five years
later his troops burned the Lahore _bazár_, and sacked Dipálpur. The
next winter saw Bábar back again, and this time Delhi was his goal. On
the 21st of April, 1526, a great battle at Pánipat again decided the
fate of India, and Bábar entered Delhi in triumph.
~Akbar and his successors.~--He soon bequeathed his Indian kingdom to his
son Humáyun, who lost it, but recovered it shortly before his death by
defeating Sikandar Sur at Sirhind. In 1556 Akbar succeeded at the age of
13, and in the same year Bahram Khán won for his master a great battle
at Pánipat and seated the Moghals firmly on the throne. For the next
century and a half, till their power declined after the death of
Aurangzeb in 1707, Kábul and Delhi were under one rule, and the Panjáb
was held in a strong grasp. When it was disturbed the cause was
rebellions of undutiful sons of the reigning Emperor, struggles between
rival heirs on the Emperor's death, or attempts to check the growing
power of the Sikh Gurus. The empire was divided into _súbahs_, and the
area described in this book embraced _súbahs_ Lahore and Multán, and
parts of _súbahs_ Delhi and Kábul. Kashmír and the trans-Indus tract
were included in the last.
~The Sultáns of Kashmír.~--The Hindu rule in Kashmír had broken down by
the middle of the twelfth century. A long line of Musalmán Sultáns
followed. Two notable names emerge in the end of the fourteenth and the
first half of the fifteenth century, Sikandar, the "Idol-breaker," who
destroyed most of the Hindu temples and converted his people to Islám,
and his wise and tolerant successor, Zain-ul-ábidín. Akbar conquered
Kashmír in 1587.
~Moghal Royal Progresses to Kashmír.~--His successors often moved from
Delhi by Lahore, Bhimbar, and the Pír Panjál route to the Happy Valley
in order to escape the summer heats. Bernier has given us a graphic
account of Aurangzeb's move to the hills in 1665. On that occasion his
total following was estimated to amount to 300,000 or 400,000 persons,
and the journey from Delhi to Lahore occupied two months. The burden
royal progresses on this scale must have imposed on the country is
inconceivable. Jahángír died in his beloved Kashmír. He planted the road
from Delhi to Lahore with trees, set up as milestones the _kos minárs_,
some of which are still standing, and built fine _sarais_ at various
places.
~Prosperity of Lahore under Akbar, Jahángír, and Sháhjahán.~--The reigns
of Akbar and of his son and grandson were the heyday of Lahore. It was
the halfway house between Delhi and Kashmír, and between Agra and Kábul.
The Moghal Court was often there. Akbar made the city his headquarters
from 1584 to 1598. Jahángír was buried and Sháhjahán was born at Lahore.
The mausoleum of the former is at Sháhdara, a mile or two from the city.
Sháhjahán made the Shálimár garden, and Ali Mardán Khán's Canal, the
predecessor of our own Upper Bárí Doáb Canal, was partly designed to
water it. Lahore retained its importance under Aurangzeb, till he became
enmeshed in the endless Deccan wars, and his successor, Bahádur Shah,
died there in 1712.
~Bába Nának, the first Guru.~--According to Sikh legend Bábar in one of
his invasions had among his prisoners their first Guru, Bába Nának, and
tried to make him a Musalmán. Nának was born in 1469 at Talwandí, now
known as Nankána Sáhib, 30 miles to the south-west of Lahore, and died
twelve years after Bábar's victory at Pánipat. He journeyed all over
India, and, if legend speaks true, even visited Mecca. His propaganda
was a peaceful one. A man of the people himself, he had a message to
deliver to a peasantry naturally impatient of the shackles of orthodox
Hinduism. Sikhism is the most important of all the later dissents from
Brahmanism, which represent revolts against idolatry, priestly
domination, and the bondage of caste and ritual. These things Nának
unhesitatingly condemned, and in the opening lines of his Japjí, the
morning service which every true Sikh must know by heart, he asserted in
sublime language the unity of God.
[Illustration: Fig. 59. Bába Nának and the Musician Mardána.]
~The Gurus between Nának and Govind.~--The first three successors of Nának
led the quiet lives of great eastern saints. They managed to keep on
good terms with the Emperor and generally also with his local
representatives. The fifth Guru, Arjan (1581-1606), began the welding of
the Sikhs into a body fit to play a part in secular politics. He
compiled their sacred book, known as the _Granth Sáhib_, and made
Amritsar the permanent centre of their faith. The tenets of these early
Gurus chimed in with the liberal sentiments of Akbar, and he treated
them kindly. Arjan was accused of helping Khusru, Jahángír's rebellious
son, and is alleged to have died after suffering cruel tortures.
Hitherto there had been little ill-will between monotheistic Sikhs and
Muhammadans. Henceforth there was ever-increasing enmity. The peasant
converts to the new creed had many scores against Turk officials to pay
off, while the new leader Hargovind (1606-1645), had the motive of
revenge. He was a Guru of a new type, a lover of horses and hawks, and a
man of war. He kept up a bodyguard, and, when danger threatened, armed
followers flocked to his standard. The easy-going Jahángír (1605-1627)
on the whole treated him well. Sháhjahán (1627-1659) was more strict or
less prudent, and during his reign there were several collisions between
the imperial troops and the Guru's followers. Hargovind was succeeded
by his grandson, Har Rai (1645-1661). The new Guru was a man of peace.
Har Rai died in 1661, having nominated his younger son, Harkrishn, a
child of six, as his successor. His brother, Rám Rai, disputed his
claim, but Aurangzeb confirmed Harkrishn's appointment. He died of small
pox in 1664 and was succeeded by his uncle, Teg Bahádur (1664-1675),
whose chief titles to fame are his execution in 1675, his prophecy of
the coming of the English, and the fact that he was the father of the
great tenth Guru, Govind. It is said that when in prison at Delhi he
gazed southwards one day in the direction of the Emperor's _zanána_.
Charged with this impropriety, he replied: "I was looking in the
direction of the Europeans, who are coming to tear down thy _pardas_ and
destroy thine empire."
[Illustration: Fig. 60. Guru Govind Singh.]
~Guru Govind Singh.~--When Govind (1675-1708) succeeded his father,
Aurangzeb had already started on the course of persecution which fatally
weakened the pillars of Turkish rule. Govind grew up with a rooted
hatred of the Turks, and a determination to weld his followers into a
league of fighting men or _Khálsa_ (Ar. _khális_ = pure), admission into
which was by the _pahul_, a form of military baptism. Sikhs were
henceforth to be _Singhs_ (lions). They were forbidden to smoke, and
enjoined to wear the five k's, _kes_, _kangha_, _kripan_, _kachh_, and
_kara_ (uncut hair, comb, sword, short drawers, and steel bracelet). He
established himself at Anandpur beyond the Hoshyárpur Siwáliks. Much of
his life was spent in struggles with his neighbours, the Rájput Hill
Rájas, backed from time to time by detachments of imperial troops from
Sirhind. In 1705 two of his sons were killed fighting and two young
grandsons were executed at Sirhind. He himself took refuge to the south
of the Sutlej, but finally decided to obey a summons from Aurangzeb, and
was on the way to the Deccan when the old Emperor died. The Guru took
up his residence on the banks of the Godávarí, and died there in 1708.
~Bánda.~--Before his death he had converted the Hindu ascetic Bánda, and
sent him forth on a mission of revenge. Bánda defeated and slew the
governor of Sirhind, Wazír Khán, and sacked the town. Doubtless he
dreamed of making himself Guru. But he was really little more than a
condottiere, and his orthodoxy was suspect. He was defeated and captured
in 1715 at Gurdáspur. Many of his followers were executed and he himself
was tortured to death at Delhi, where the members of an English mission
saw a ghastly procession of Sikh prisoners with 2000 heads carried on
poles. The blow was severe, and for a generation little was heard of the
Sikhs.
~Invasions of Nádir Sháh and Ahmad Sháh.~--The central power was weak, and
a new era of invasions from the west began. Nádir Sháh, the Turkman
shepherd, who had made himself master of Persia, advanced through the
Panjáb. Zakaria Khán, the governor of Lahore, submitted and the town was
saved from sack. A victory at Karnál left the road to Delhi open, and in
March, 1738, the Persians occupied the capital. A shot fired at Nádir
Sháh in the Chándní Chauk led to the nine hours' massacre, when the
Daríba ran with blood, and 100,000 citizens are said to have perished.
The Persians retired laden with booty, including the peacock throne and
the Kohinur diamond. The Sikhs harassed detachments of the army on its
homeward march. Nádir Sháh was murdered nine years later, and his power
passed to the Afghán leader, the Durání Ahmad Sháh.
Between 1748 and 1767 this remarkable man, who could conquer but could
not keep, invaded India eight times. Lahore was occupied in 1748, but at
Sirhind the skill of Mír Mannu, called Muín ul Mulk, gave the advantage
to the Moghals. Ahmad Sháh retreated, and Muín ul Mulk was rewarded
with the governorship of the Panjáb. He was soon forced to cede to the
Afghán the revenue of four districts. His failure to fulfil his compact
led to a third invasion in 1752, and Muín ul Mulk, after a gallant
defence of Lahore, had to submit. In 1755-56 Ahmad Sháh plundered Delhi
and then retired, leaving his son, Timúr, to represent him at Lahore.
Meanwhile the Sikhs had been gathering strength. Then, as now, they
formed only a fraction of the population. But they were united by a
strong hatred of Muhammadan rule, and in the disorganized state of the
country even the loose organization described below made them
formidable. Owing to the weakness of the government the Panjáb became
dotted over with forts, built by local chiefs, who undoubtedly lived
largely by plunder. The spiritual organization under a Guru being gone,
there gradually grew up a political and military organization into
twelve _misls_, in which "a number of chiefs agreed, after a somewhat
democratic and equal fashion, to fight under the general orders of some
powerful leader" against the hated Muhammadans. The _misls_ often fought
with one another for a change. In the third quarter of the eighteenth
century _Sardár_ Jassa Singh of Kapúrthala, head of the Ahluwália
_misl_, was the leading man among the Sikhs. Timúr having defiled the
tank at Amritsar, Jassa Singh avenged the insult by occupying Lahore in
1756, and the Afghán prince withdrew across the Indus. Adína Beg, the
governor of the Jalandhar Doáb, called in the Mahrattas, who drove the
Sikhs out in 1758. Ahmad Sháh's fifth invasion in 1761 was rendered
memorable by his great victory over the Mahratta confederacy at Pánipat.
When he returned to Kábul, the Sikhs besieged his governor, Zín Khán, in
Sirhind. Next year Ahmad Sháh returned, and repaid their audacity by a
crushing defeat near Barnála.
They soon rallied, and, in 1763, under Jassa Singh Ahluwália and Rája
Ala Singh of Patiála razed Sirhind to the ground. After the sack the
Sikh horsemen rode over the plains between Sirhind and Karnál, each man
claiming for his own any village into which in passing he had thrown
some portion of his garments. This was the origin of the numerous petty
chiefships and confederacies of horsemen, which, along with the Phulkian
States, the British Government took under its protection in 1808. In
1764 the chiefs of the Bhangí _misl_ occupied Lahore.
CHAPTER XIX
HISTORY (_continued_). THE SIKH PERIOD, 1764-1849 A.D.
~Rise of Ranjít Singh.~--The Bhangís held Lahore with brief intervals for
25 years. In 1799, Ranjít Singh, basing his claim on a grant from Sháh
Zamán, the grandson of Ahmad Sháh, drove them out, and inaugurated the
remarkable career which ended with his death in 1839. When he took
Lahore the future Mahárája was only nineteen years of age. He was the
head of the Sukarchakia _misl_, which had its headquarters at
Gujránwála. Mean in appearance, his face marked and one eye closed by
the ravages of smallpox, he was the one man of genius the Jat tribe has
produced. A splendid horseman, a bold leader, a cool thinker untroubled
with scruples, an unerring judge of character, he was bound to rise in
such times. He set himself to put down every Sikh rival and to profit by
the waning of the Durání power to make himself master of their
possessions in the Panjáb. Pluck, patience, and guile broke down all
opposition among the Mánjha Sikhs. The Sikh chiefs to the south of the
Sutlej were only saved from the same fate by throwing themselves in 1808
on the protection of the English, who six years earlier had occupied
Delhi, and by taking under their protection the blind old Emperor, Sháh
Álam, had virtually proclaimed themselves the paramount power in India.
For 44 years he had been only a piece in the game played by Mahrattas,
Rohillas, and the English in alliance with the Nawáb Wazír of Oudh.
[Illustration: Fig. 61. Mahárája Ranjít Singh.
(_From a picture book said to have been prepared for Mahárája Dalíp
Singh._)]
~British supremacy established in India.~--In the first years of the
nineteenth century the Marquess of Wellesley had made up his mind that
the time was ripe to grasp supreme power in India. The motive was
largely self-preservation. India was included in Napoleon's vast plans
for the overthrow of England, and Sindhia, with his army trained in
European methods of warfare by French officers, seemed a likely
confederate. Colonel Arthur Wellesley's hard-won battle at Assaye in
September, 1803, and Lord Lake's victories on the Hindan and at Laswárí
in the same year, decided the fate of India. Delhi was occupied, and
Daulat Rao Sindhia ceded to the company territory reaching from Fázilka
on the Sutlej to Delhi on the Jamna, and extending along that river
northwards to Karnál and southwards to Mewát. Fázilka and a large part
of Hissár then formed a wild desert tract called Bhattiána, over which
no effective control was exercised till 1818. In 1832 "the Delhi
territory" became part of the North-West Provinces, from which it was
transferred to the Panjáb after the Mutiny.
~Relations of Ranjít Singh with English.~--In December, 1808, Ranjít Singh
was warned that by the issue of the war with Sindhia the Cis-Sutlej
chiefs had come under British protection. The Mahárája was within an ace
of declaring war, or let the world think so, but his statesmanlike
instincts got the better of mortified ambition, and in April, 1809, he
signed a treaty pledging himself to make no conquests south and east of
the Sutlej. The compact so reluctantly made was faithfully observed. In
1815, as the result of war with the Gurkhas, the Rájput hill states
lying to the south of the Sutlej came under British protection.
~Extension of Sikh Kingdom in Panjáb.~--As early as 1806, when he reduced
Jhang, Ranjít Singh began his encroachments on the possessions of the
Duránís in the Panjáb. Next year, and again in 1810 and 1816, Multán was
attacked, but the strong fort was not taken till 1818, when the old
Nawáb, Muzaffar Khán, and five of his sons, fell fighting at the gate.
Kashmír was first attacked in 1811 and finally annexed in 1819. Called
in by the great Katoch Rája of Kángra, Sansár Chand, in 1809, to help
him against the Gurkhas, Ranjít Singh duped both parties, and became
master of the famous fort. Many years later he annexed the whole of the
Kángra hill states. By 1820 the Mahárája was supreme from the Sutlej to
the Indus, though his hold on Hazára was weak. Pesháwar became tributary
in 1823, but it was kept in subjection with much difficulty. Across the
Indus the position of the Sikhs was always precarious, and revenue was
only paid when an armed force could be sent to collect it. As late as
1837 the great Sikh leader, Harí Singh Nalwa, fell fighting with the
Afgháns at Jamrúd. The Barakzai, Dost Muhammad, had been the ruler of
Kábul since 1826. In 1838, when the English launched their ill-starred
expedition to restore Sháh Shuja to his throne, Ranjít Singh did not
refuse his help in the passage through the Panjáb. But he was worn out
by toils and excesses, and next year the weary lion of the Panjáb died.
He had known how to use men. He employed Jat blades and Brahman and
Muhammadan brains. Khatrís put both at his service. The best of his
local governors was Diwán Sáwan Mal, who ruled the South-West Panjáb
with much profit to himself and to the people. After 1820 the three
Jammu brothers, Rájas Dhián Singh, Suchet Singh, and Guláb Singh, had
great power.
~Successors of Ranjít Singh.~--From 1839 till 1846 an orgy of bloodshed
and intrigue went on in Lahore. Kharak Singh, the Mahárája's son, died
in 1840, and on the same day occurred the death of his son Nao Nihál
Singh, compassed probably by the Jammu Rájas. Sher Singh, and then the
child, Dalíp Singh, succeeded. In September, 1843, Mahárája Sher Singh,
his son Partáb Singh, and Rája Dhián Singh were shot by Ajít Singh and
Lehna Singh of the great Sindhanwália house. The death of Dhián Singh
was avenged by his son, Híra Singh, who proclaimed Dalíp Singh as
Mahárája and made himself chief minister. When he in turn was killed
Rání Jindan, the mother of Dalíp Singh, her brother Jowáhir Singh, and
her favourite, Lál Singh, took the reins.
[Illustration: Fig. 62. Mahárája Kharak Singh.]
[Illustration: Fig. 63. Nao Nihál Singh.]
[Illustration: Fig. 64. Mahárája Sher Singh.
(_From a picture book said to have been prepared for Mahárája Dalíp
Singh._)]
~The First Sikh War and its results.~--In 1845 these intriguers, fearing
the _Khálsa_ army which they could not control, yielded to its cry to be
led across the Sutlej in the hope that its strength would be broken in
its conflict with the Company's forces. The valour displayed by the Sikh
soldiery on the fields of Mudkí, Ferozesháh (Pherushahr), and Sobráon
was rendered useless by the treachery of its rulers, and Lahore was
occupied in February, 1846. By the treaty signed on 9th March, 1846, the
Mahárája ceded the territories in the plains between the Sutlej and
Biás, and in the hills between the Biás and the Indus. Kashmír and
Hazára were made over by the Company to Rája Guláb Singh for a payment
of 75 lakhs, but next year he induced the Lahore Darbár to take over
Hazára and give him Jammu in exchange. After Rája Lál Singh had been
banished for instigating Shekh Imám ud din to resist the occupation of
Kashmír by Guláb Singh, an agreement was executed, in December, 1846,
between the Government and the chief Sikh _Sardárs_ by which a Council
of Regency was appointed to be controlled by a British Resident at
Lahore. The office was given to Henry Lawrence.
~The Second Sikh War.~--These arrangements were destined to be
short-lived. Diwán Sáwan Mal's son, Mulráj, mismanaged Multán and was
ordered to resign. In April, 1848, two English officers sent to instal
his Sikh successor were murdered. Herbert Edwardes, with the help of
Muhammadan tribesmen and Baháwalpur troops, shut up Mulráj in Multán,
but the fort was too strong for the first British regular force, which
arrived in August, and it did not fall till January, 1849. During that
winter a formidable Sikh revolt against English domination broke out.
Its leader was _Sardár_ Chatar Singh, Governor of Hazára. The troops
sent by the _Darbár_ to Multán under Chatar Singh's son, Sher Singh,
marched northwards in September to join their co-religionists.
On the 13th of January, 1849, Lord Gough fought a very hardly contested
battle at Chilianwála. If this was but a doubtful victory, that won six
weeks later at Gujrát was decisive. On 12th March, 1849, the soldiers of
the _Khálsa_ in proud dejection laid down their weapons at the feet of
the victor, and dispersed to their homes.
[Illustration: Fig. 65. Zamzama Gun[6].]
~Annexation.~--The cause they represented was in no sense a national one.
The Sikhs were a small minority of the population, the bulk of the
people being Muhammadans, to whom the English came as deliverers. On the
30th of March, 1849, the proclamation annexing the Panjáb was read at
Lahore.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 6: This gun, known to the readers of _Kim_, stands on the
Lahore Mall. Whoever possesses it is supposed to be ruler of the
Panjáb.]
CHAPTER XX
HISTORY (_continued_). THE BRITISH PERIOD, 1849-1913
~Administrative Arrangements in Panjáb.~--Lord Dalhousie put the
government of the province under a Board of Administration consisting of
the two Lawrences, Henry and John, and Charles Mansel. The Board was
abolished in 1853 and its powers vested in a Chief Commissioner. A
Revenue or Financial Commissioner and a Judicial Commissioner were his
principal subordinates. John Lawrence, the first and only Chief
Commissioner of the Panjáb, became its first Lieutenant-Governor on the
1st of January, 1859. The raising of the Panjáb to the full rank of an
Indian province was the fitting reward of the great part which its
people and its officers, with their cool-headed and determined chief,
had played in the suppression of the Mutiny. The overthrow of the
_Khálsa_ left the contending parties with the respect which strong men
feel for each other; the services of the Sikhs in 1857 healed their
wounded pride and removed all soreness.
[Illustration: Fig. 66. Sir John Lawrence.]
~Administration, 1849-1859.~--When John Lawrence laid down his office in
the end of February, 1859, ten years of work by himself and the able
officers drafted by Lord Dalhousie into the new province had established
order on a solid foundation. A strong administration suited to a manly
and headstrong people had been organised. In the greater part of the
province rights in land had been determined and recorded. The principle
of a moderate assessment of the land revenue had been laid down and
partially carried out in practice. The policy of canal and railway
development, which was to have so great a future in the Panjáb, had been
definitely started. The province had been divided into nine divisions
containing 33 districts. The Divisional Commissioners were
superintendents of revenue and police with power to try the gravest
criminal offences and to hear appeals in civil cases. The Deputy
Commissioner of districts had large civil, criminal, and fiscal powers.
A simple criminal and civil code was enforced. The peace of the frontier
was secured by a chain of fortified outposts watching the outlets from
the hills, behind which were the cantonments at the headquarters of the
districts linked together by a military road. The posts and the
cantonments except Pesháwar were garrisoned by the Frontier Force, a
splendid body of troops consisting ultimately of seven infantry and
five cavalry regiments, with some mule batteries. This force was till
1885 subject to the orders of the Lieutenant Governor. It never wanted
work, for before the Mutiny troops had to be employed seventeen times
against the independent tribesmen. East of the Indus order was secured
by the disarmament of the people, the maintenance, in addition to civil
police, of a strong body of military police, and the construction of
good roads. Just before Lawrence left the construction of the
Amritsar-Multán railway was begun, and a few weeks after his departure
the Upper Bárí Doáb Canal was opened.
[Illustration: Fig. 67. John Nicolson's Monument at Delhi.]
[Illustration: Fig. 68. Sir Robert Montgomery.]
~Administration, 1859-1870.~--The next eleven years occupied by the
administrations of Sir Robert Montgomery and Sir Donald Macleod were a
quiet time in which results already achieved were consolidated. The
Penal Code was extended to the Panjáb in 1862, and a Chief Court with a
modest establishment of two judges in 1865 took the place of the
Judicial Commissioner. In the same year a Settlement Commissioner was
appointed to help the Financial Commissioner in the control of land
revenue settlements. Two severe famines marked the beginning and the
close of this period. Omitting the usual little frontier excitements, it
is necessary to mention the troublesome Ambela campaign in 1863 in the
country north of Pesháwar, which had for its object the breaking up of
the power of a nest of Hindustání fanatics, and the Black Mountain
expedition, in 1868, on the Hazára border, in which no fewer than 15,000
men were employed. Sir Henry Durand, who succeeded Sir Donald Macleod,
after seven months of office lost his life by an accident in the
beginning of 1871.
~Administration, 1871-1882.~--The next eleven years divided between the
administrations of Sir Henry Davies (1871-1877) and Sir Robert Egerton
(1877-1882) produced more striking events. In 1872 a small body of
fanatics belonging to a Sikh sect known as Kúkas or Shouters marched
from the Ludhiána district and attacked the headquarters of the little
Muhammadan State of Malerkotla. They were repulsed and 68 men
surrendered to the Patiála authorities. The Deputy Commissioner of
Ludhiána blew 49 of them from the guns, and the rest were executed after
summary trial by the Commissioner. Such strong measures were not
approved by the Government, but it must be remembered that these madmen
had killed ten and wounded seventeen men, and that their lives were
justly forfeit. On the 1st of January, 1877, Queen Victoria's
assumption of the title of Empress of India (_Kaisar-i-Hind_) was
announced at a great _Darbár_ at Delhi. In 1877 Kashmír, hitherto
controlled by the Lieutenant-Governor, was put directly under the
Government of India. The same year and the next the province was tried
by famine, and in 1878-80 it was the base from which our armies marched
on Kábul and Kandahár, while its resources in camels were strained to
supply transport. Apart from this its interest in the war was very great
because it is the chief recruiting ground of the Indian army and its
chiefs sent contingents to help their suzerain. The first stage of the
war was closed by the treaty of Gandamak in May, 1879, by which Yakúb
Khán surrendered any rights he possessed over Khaibar and the Kurram as
far as Shutargardan.
[Illustration: Fig. 69. Panjáb Camels--Lahore.]
[Illustration: Fig. 70. Sir Charles Aitchison.]
~Administration, 1882-1892.~--During the Lieutenant-Governorships of Sir
Charles Aitchison (1882-1887) and Sir James Lyall (1887-1892) there was
little trouble on the western frontier. In 1891 the need had arisen of
making our power felt up to the Pamírs. The setting up of a British
agency at Gilgit was opposed in 1891 by the fighting men of Hunza and
Nagar. Colonel Durand advanced rapidly with a small force and when a
determined assault reduced the strong fort of Nilt, trouble was at an
end once and for all. Within the Panjáb the period was one of quiet
development. The Sirhind Canal was opened in 1882, and the weir at
Khánkí for the supply of the Lower Chenáb Canal was finished in 1892.
New railways were constructed. Lord Ripon's policy of Local
Self-government found a strong supporter in Sir Charles Aitchison, and
Acts were passed dealing with the constitution and powers of municipal
committees and district boards. In 1884 and 1885 a large measure of
reorganization was carried out. A separate staff of divisional,
district, and subordinate civil judges was appointed. The divisional
judges were also sessions judges. The ten commissioners were reduced to
six, and five of them were relieved of all criminal work by the sessions
judges. The Deputy Commissioner henceforth was a Revenue Collector and
District Magistrate with large powers in criminal cases. The revenue
administration was at the same time being improved by the reforms
embodied in the Panjáb Land Revenue and Tenancy Acts passed at the
beginning of Sir James Lyall's administration.
~Administration, 1892-1902.~--The next two administrations, those of Sir
Dennis Fitzpatrick (1892-97) and Sir Mackworth Young (1897-1902) were
crowded with important events. Throughout the period the colonization of
the vast area of waste commanded by the Lower Chenáb Canal was carried
out, and the Lower Jhelam Canal was formally opened six months before
Sir Mackworth Young left. The province suffered from famine in 1896-97
and again in 1899-1900. In October, 1897, a worse enemy appeared in the
shape of plague, but its ravages were not very formidable till the end
of the period. The Panjáb was given a small nominated Legislative
Council in 1897, which speedily proved itself a valuable instrument for
dealing with much-needed provincial legislation. But the most important
Panjáb Act of the period, XIII of 1900, dealing with Land Alienation was
passed by the Viceroy's Legislative Council. In 1901 a Political Agent
was appointed as the intermediary between the Panjáb Government and the
Phulkian States. On the frontier the conclusion of the Durand Agreement
in 1893 might well have raised hopes of quiet times. But the reality was
otherwise. The establishment of a British officer at Wána to exercise
control over Southern Wazíristán in 1894 was forcibly resisted by the
Mahsúd Wazírs, and an expedition had to be sent into their country. The
Mehtar or Chief of Chitrál, who was in receipt of a subsidy from the
British Government, died in 1892. A period of great confusion followed
fomented by the ambitions of Umra Khán of Jandol. Finally we recognised
as Mehtar the eldest son, who had come uppermost in the struggle, and
sent an English officer as British Agent to Chitrál. Umra Khán got our
protégé murdered, and besieged the Agent in the Chitrál fort. He
withdrew however on the approach of a small force from Gilgit.
Shuja-ul-Mulk was recognised as Mehtar. This little trouble occurred in
1895. Two years later a storm-cloud suddenly burst over the frontier,
such as we had never before experienced. It spread rapidly from the
Tochí to Swát, tribe after tribe rising and attacking our posts. It is
impossible to tell here the story of the military measures taken against
the different offending tribes. The most important was the campaign in
Tirah against the Orakzais and Afrídís, in which 30,000 men were engaged
for six months. In 1900 attacks on the peace of the border by the Mahsúd
Wazírs had to be punished by a blockade, and in the cold weather of
1901-2 small columns harried the hill country to enforce their
submission. By this time the connection of the Panjáb Government with
frontier affairs, which had gradually come to involve responsibility
with little real power, had ceased. On the 25th of October, 1901, the
North-West Frontier Province was constituted and Colonel (afterwards Sir
Harold) Deane became its first Chief Commissioner, an office which he
held till 1908, when he was succeeded by Major (now Sir George) Roos
Keppel.
~Administration, 1902-1913.~--The last eleven years have embraced the
Lieutenant Governorship of Sir Charles Rivaz (1902-1907), the too brief
administration of Sir Denzil Ibbetson (1907-1908), and that of Sir Louis
Dane (1908-1913). Throughout the period plague has been a disturbing
factor, preventing entirely the growth of population which the rapid
development of the agricultural resources of the province would
otherwise have secured. It was among the causes stimulating the unrest
which came to a head in 1907. A terrible earthquake occurred in 1905.
Its centre was in Kángra, where 20,000 persons perished under the ruins
of their houses. The colonization of the Crown waste on the Lower Jhelam
Canal was nearly finished during Sir Charles Rivaz's administration.
Before he left the Triple Canal Project, now approaching completion, had
been undertaken. Other measures of importance to the rural population
were the passing of the Co-operative Credit Societies' Act in 1903, and
the organization in 1905 of a provincial Agricultural Department. The
seditious movement which troubled Bengal had its echo in some parts of
the Panjáb in the end of 1906 and the spring of 1907. A bill dealing
with the rights and obligations of the Crown tenants in the new Canal
Colonies was at the time before the Local Legislature. Excitement
fomented from outside spread among the prosperous colonists on the Lower
Chenáb Canal. There was a disturbance in Lahore in connection with the
trial of a newspaper editor, the ringleaders being students. When Sir
Denzil Ibbetson took the reins into his strong hands in March, 1907, the
position was somewhat critical. The disturbance at Lahore was followed
by a riot at Ráwalpindí. The two leading agitators were deported, a
measure which was amply justified by their reckless actions and which
had an immediate effect. Lord Minto decided to withhold his assent from
the Colony Bill, and it has recently been replaced by a measure which
has met with general acceptance. When Sir Denzil Ibbetson took office he
was already suffering from a mortal disease. In the following January he
gave up the unequal struggle, and shortly afterwards died. Sir Louis
Dane became Lieutenant Governor in May, 1908. A striking feature of his
administration was the growth of co-operative credit societies or
village banks. At the Coronation _Darbár_ on 12th December, 1911, the
King-Emperor announced the transfer of the capital of India to Delhi. As
a necessary consequence the city and its suburbs were severed from the
province, with which they had been connected for 55 years. In 1913 Sir
Louis Dane was succeeded by Sir Michael O'Dwyer.
[Illustration: Fig. 71. Sir Denzil Ibbetson.]
[Illustration: Fig. 72. Sir Michael O'Dwyer.]
CHAPTER XXI
ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS
[Illustration: Fig. 73. Group of Chamba Temples.]
~Hindu and Buddhist Remains.~--The scholar who ended his study of Indian
history with the close of the first millennium of the Christian era
would expect to find a fruitful field for the study of ancient monuments
of the Hindu faith in the plains of the Panjáb. He would look for a
great temple of the Sun God at Multán, and at places like Lahore and
Kángra, Thanesar and Pihowa, for shrines rich with graven work outside
and with treasures of gold and precious stones within. But he would look
in vain. The Muhammadan invaders of the five centuries which elapsed
between Mahmúd of Ghazní and the Moghal Bábar were above all things
idol-breakers, and their path was marked by the destruction and
spoliation of temples. Even those invaders who remained as conquerors
deemed it a pious work to build their mosques with the stones of ruined
fanes. The transformation, as in the case of the great Kuwwat ul Islám
mosque beside the Kutb Minár, did not always involve the complete
obliteration of idolatrous emblems. Kángra was not too remote to be
reached by invading armies, and the visitor to Nurpur on the road from
Pathánkot to Dharmsála can realize how magnificent some of the old Hindu
buildings were, and how utterly they were destroyed. The smaller
buildings to be found in the remoter parts of the hills escaped, and
there are characteristic groups of stone temples at Chamba and still
older shrines dating from the eighth century at Barmaur and Chitrádí in
the same state. The ruins of the great temple of the Sun, built by
Lálitáditya in the same period, at Mártand[7] near Islámábád in the
Kashmír State are very striking. The smaller, but far better preserved,
temple at Payer is probably of much later date. Round the pool of Katás,
one of Siva's eyes, a great place of Hindu pilgrimage in the Salt
Range, there is little or nothing of antiquarian value, but there are
interesting remains at Malot in the same neighbourhood. It is possible
that when the mounds that mark the sites of ancient villages come to be
excavated valuable relics of the Hindu period will be brought to light.
The forces of nature or the violence of man have wiped out all traces of
the numerous Buddhist monasteries which the Chinese pilgrims found in
the Panjáb. Inscriptions of Asoka? graven on rocks survive at
Sháhbázgarhí and Mansehra in the North-West Frontier Province. Two
pillars with inscriptions of the Missionary Emperor stand at Delhi. They
were brought from Topra near the Jamna in Ambála and from Meerut by
Firoz Sháh. The traveller by train from Jhelam to Ráwalpindí can see to
the west of the line at Mankiála a great _stúpa_ raised to celebrate the
self-sacrifice of the Bodhisattva who gave his life to feed a starving
tigress. There is a ruined _stúpa_ at Suí Vihár in the Baháwalpur State.
The Chinese pilgrims described the largest of Indian _stúpas_ built by
Kanishka near Pesháwar to enshrine precious relics of Gautama Buddha and
a great monastery beside it. Recent excavations have proved the truth
of the conjecture that the two mounds at Sháhjí kí dherí covered the
remains of these buildings, and the six-sided crystal reliquary
containing three small fragments of bone has after long centuries been
disinterred and is now in the great pagoda at Rangoon. In the Lahore
museum there is a rich collection of the sculptures recovered from the
Pesháwar Valley, the ancient Gandhára. They exhibit strong traces of
Greek influence. The best age of Gandhára sculpture was probably over
before the reign of Kanishka. The site of the famous town of Táxila is
now a protected area, and excavation there may yield a rich reward.
[Illustration: Fig. 74. Payer Temple.]
[Illustration: Fig. 75. Reliquary.]
[Illustration: Fig. 76. Colonnade in Kuwwat ul Islám Mosque.]
~Muhammadan Architecture.~--The Muhammadan architecture of North-Western
India may be divided into three periods:
(_a_) The Pathán 1191-1320
(_b_) The Tughlak 1320-1556
(_c_) The Moghal 1556-1753
[Illustration: Fig. 77. Kutb Minár.]
In the Pathán period the royal builders drew their inspiration from
Ghazní, but their work was also much affected by Hindu influences for
two reasons. They used the materials of Hindu temples in constructing
their mosques and they employed masons imbued with the traditions of
Hindu art. The best specimens of this period are to be found in the
group of buildings in Old Delhi or _Kila' Rai Pithora_, close to
Mahraulí and eleven miles to the south of the present city. These
buildings are the magnificent _Kuwwat ul Islám_ (Might of Islam) Mosque
(1191-1225), with its splendid tower, the _Kutb Minár_ (1200-1220), from
which the _mu'azzin_ called the faithful to prayer, the tomb of the
Emperor Altamsh (1238), and the great gateway built in 1310 by Alá ud
dín Khaljí. In the second period, named after the house that occupied
the imperial throne when it began, all traces of Hindu influence have
vanished, and the buildings display the austere and massive grandeur
suited to the faith of the desert prophet unalloyed by foreign elements.
This style in its beginning is best seen in the cyclopean ruins of
Tughlakábád and the tomb of the Emperor Tughlak Sháh, and in some
mosques in and near Delhi. Its latest phase is represented by Sher
Sháh's mosque in the Old Fort or _Purána Kila'_. To some the simple
grandeur of this style will appeal more strongly than the splendid, but
at times almost effeminate, beauty of the third period. Noted examples
of Moghal architecture in the Panjáb are to be found in Sháhjahári's red
fort palace and _Jama' Masjid_ at New Delhi or Sháhjahánábád,
Humáyun's tomb on the road from Delhi to Mahraulí, the fort palace, the
Bádsháhí and Wazír Khán's mosques, at Lahore, and Jahángír's mausoleum
at Sháhdara. A very late building in this style is the tomb of Nawáb
Safdar Jang (1753) near Delhi. A further account of some of the most
famous Muhammadan buildings will be found in the paragraphs devoted to
the chief cities of the province. The architecture of the British period
scarcely deserves notice.
[Illustration: Fig. 78. Tomb of Emperor Tughlak Sháh.]
[Illustration: Fig. 79. Jama Masjid, Delhi.]
[Illustration: Fig. 80. Tomb of Emperor Humáyun.]
[Illustration: Fig. 81. Bádsháhí Mosque, Lahore.]
~Coins.~--Among the most interesting of the archaeological remains are the
coins which are found in great abundance on the frontier and all over
the Panjáb. These take us back through the centuries to times before
the invasion of India by Alexander, and for the obscure period
intervening between the Greek occupation of the Frontier and the
Muhammadan conquest, they are our main source of history. The most
ancient of the Indian monetary issues are the so-called punch-marked
coins, some of which were undoubtedly in existence before the Greek
invasion. Alexander himself left no permanent traces of his progress
through the Panjáb and Sindh, but about the year 200 B.C., Greeks from
Bactria, an outlying province of the Seleukidan Empire, once more
appeared on the Indian Frontier, which they effectively occupied for
more than a century. They struck the well-known Graeco-Bactrian coins;
the most famous of the Indo-Greek princes were Apollodotos and Menander.
Towards the close of this dynasty, parts of Sindh and Afghánistán were
conquered by Sáka Scythians from Central Asia. They struck what are
termed the Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins bearing names in
legible Greek legends--Manes, Azes, Azilises, Gondophares, Abdagases.
Both Greeks and Sákas were overthrown by the Kusháns. The extensive gold
and copper Kushán currency, with inscriptions in the Greek script,
contains the names of Kadphises, Kanishka, Huvishka, and others. In
addition to the coins of these foreign dynasties, there are the purely
Indian currencies, e.g. the coins of Táxila, and those bearing the names
of such tribes as the Odumbaras, Kunindas, and Yaudheyas. The White Huns
overthrew the Kushán Empire in the fifth century. After their own fall
in the sixth century, there are more and more debased types of coinage
such as the ubiquitous _Gadhiya paisa_, a degraded Sassanian type. In
the ninth century we again meet with coins bearing distinct names, the
"bull and horseman" currency of the Hindu kings of Kábul. We have now
reached the beginning of the Muhammadan rule in India. Muhammad bin
Sám was the founder of the first Pathán dynasty of Delhi, and was
succeeded by a long line of Sultáns. The Pathán and Moghal coins bear
Arabic and Persian legends. There were mints at Lahore, Multán,
Háfizábád, Kalanaur, Deraját, Pesháwar, Srínagar and Jammu. An issue of
coins peculiar to the Panjáb is that of the Sikhs. Their coin legends,
partly Persian, partly Panjábí, are written in the Persian and Gurmúkhí
scripts. Amongst Sikh mints were Amritsar, Lahore, Multán, Dera,
Anandgarh, Jhang, and Kashmír.
[Illustration: Fig. 82. Coins.
1. Silver punch-marked coin. 2. Drachma of Sophytes (Panjáb Satrap about
time of Alexander). 3. Hemidrachma of Azes. 4. Copper coin of Táxila. 5.
Silver Kuninda coin. 6. Stater of Wema Kadphises. 7. Stater of Kanishka.
8. Later Kushán stater. 9. White Hun silver piece. 10. Gadhiya _paisa_.
11. Silver coin of Spalapatí Deva, Hindu King of Kábul.]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 7: See page 166.]
CHAPTER XXII
ADMINISTRATION--GENERAL
~Panjáb Districts.~--The administrative unit in the Panjáb is the district
in charge of a Deputy Commissioner. The districts are divided into
_tahsíls_, each on the average containing four, and are grouped together
in divisions managed by Commissioners. There are 28 districts and five
divisions. An ordinary Panjáb district has an area of 2000 to 3000
square miles and contains from 1000 to 2000 village estates. Devon, the
third in size of the English counties, is about equal to an average
Panjáb district.
~Branches of Administration.~--The provincial governments of India are
organized in three branches, Executive, Judicial, and Revenue, and a
number of special departments, such as Forests and Irrigation. Under
"Judicial" there are two subdivisions, civil and criminal. The tendency
at first is for powers in all three branches to be concentrated in the
hands of single individuals, development tends to specialization, but it
is a matter of controversy how far the separation of executive and
magisterial functions can be carried without jeopardy to the common
weal.
~The Lieutenant Governor.~--At the head of the whole administration is the
Lieutenant Governor, who holds office for five years. He has a strong
Secretariat to help in the dispatch of business. The experiment of
governing the Panjáb by a Board was speedily given up, and for sixty
years it has enjoyed the advantage of one man government, the Lieutenant
Governor controlling all subordinate authorities and being himself only
controlled by the Governor General in Council. The independence of the
Courts in the exercise of judicial functions is of course safeguarded.
~Official hierarchy.~--The following is a list of the official hierarchy
in the different branches of the administration:
_A._ Lieutenant Governor.
_B._ Five Judges of Chief Court (_j_).
_C._ Two Financial Commissioners (_r_).
_D._ Five Commissioners, (_e_) and (_r_).
_E._ Sixteen Divisional and Sessions Judges (_j_).
_F._ Deputy Commissioners, (_e_), (_r_) and (_crim_).
_G._ District Judges (_civ_).
_H._ Subordinate Judges (_civ_).
_J._ Assistant and Extra Assistant Commissioners, (_e_), (_j_) and (_r_).
_K._ Tahsíldárs (_e_), (_r_) and (_crim_).
_L._ _Munsifs_ (_civ_).
_M._ _Náib-Tahsíldárs_, (_e_) (_r_) and (_j_).
The letters in brackets indicate the classes of functions which the
official concerned usually exercises. Translated into a diagram we have
the following:
Lieutenant Governor
Judicial Executive Revenue
Chief Court Financial
Commissioners
Divisional and Sessions Judges Commissioners
Civil Criminal
District Judges Deputy Commissioners
Asst. and Extra Asst.
Commissioners
Subordinate
Judges
_Tahsíldárs_
_Munsifs_
_Náib-Tahsíldárs_
~Tahsíldárs and Assistant and Extra Assistant Commissioners.~--Thus the
chain of executive authority runs down to the _tahsíldár's_ assistant or
_náib_ through the Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner, the
_tahsíldár_ being directly responsible to the latter. The Assistant and
Extra Assistant Commissioners are the Deputy Commissioner's Assistants
at headquarters, and as such are invested with powers in all branches.
The _tahsíldár_, a very important functionary, is in charge of a
_tahsíl_. He is linked on to the village estates by a double chain, one
official consisting of the _kanungos_ and the _patwáris_ or village
accountants whom they supervise, the other non-official consisting of
the village headmen and the _zaildárs_, each of whom is the intermediary
between the revenue and police staffs and the villages.
~Subdivisional Officers.~--In some heavy districts one or more _tahsíls_
are formed into a subdivision and put in charge of a resident Assistant
or Extra Assistant Commissioner, exercising such independent authority
as the Deputy Commissioner thinks fit to entrust to him.
~The Deputy Commissioner and his Assistants.~--As the officer responsible
for the maintenance of order the Deputy Commissioner is District
Magistrate and has large powers both for the prevention and punishment
of crime. The District Superintendent is his Assistant in police
matters. The Civil Surgeon is also under his control, and he has an
Indian District Inspector of Schools to assist him in educational
business. The Deputy Commissioner is subject to the control of the
Divisional Commissioner.
~Financial Commissioners.~--In all matters connected with land, excise,
and income tax administration the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner
are subject to the control of the Financial Commissioners, who are also
the final appellate authority in revenue cases. As chief district
revenue officer the Deputy Commissioner's proper title is "Collector," a
term which indicates his responsibility for the realization of all
Government revenues. In districts which are canal irrigated the amount
is in some cases very large.
~Settlement Officers, etc.~--With the periodical revisions of the land
revenue assessment the Deputy Commissioner has no direct concern. That
very responsible duty is done by a special staff of Settlement Officers,
selected chiefly from among the Assistant Commissioners and working
under the Commissioners and Financial Commissioners. The Director of
Land Records, the Registrar of Co-operative Credit Societies, and in
some branches of his work the Director of Agriculture and Industries,
are controlled by the Financial Commissioners.
~The Chief Court.~--It must be admitted that Panjábís are very litigious
and that in some tracts they are extremely vindictive and reckless of
human life. The volume of litigation is swollen by the fact that the
country is one of small-holders subject as regards inheritance and other
matters to an uncodified customary law, which may vary from tribe to
tribe and tract to tract. A suit is to the Panjábí a rubber, the last
game of which he will play in Lahore, if the law permits. It is not
therefore extraordinary that the Chief Court constituted in 1865 with
two judges has now five, and that even this number has in the past
proved insufficient. In the same way the cadre of divisional and
sessions judges had in 1909 to be raised from 12 to 16.
~Administration of N. W. F. Province.~--In the N. W. F. Province no
Commissioner is interposed between the district officers and the Chief
Commissioner, under whom the Revenue Commissioner and the Judicial
Commissioner occupy pretty much the position of the Financial
Commissioners and the Chief Court in the Panjáb.
~Departments.~--The principal departments are the Railway, Post Office,
Telegraphs, and Accounts, under the Government of India, and Irrigation,
Roads and Buildings, Forests, Police, Medical, and Education, under the
Lieutenant Governor. In matters affecting the rural population, as a
great part of the business of the Forest Department must do, the
Conservator of Forests is subject to the control of the Financial
Commissioners, whose relations with the Irrigation Department are also
very intimate.
~Legislative Council.~--From 1897 to 1909 the Panjáb had a local
Legislative Council of nine nominated members, which passed a number of
useful Acts. Under 9 Edward VII, cap. 4, an enlarged council with
increased powers has been constituted. It consists of 24 members of whom
eight are elected, one by the University, one by the Chamber of
Commerce, three by groups of Municipal and cantonment committees, and
three by groups of district boards. The other sixteen members are
nominated by the Lieutenant Governor, and at least six of them must be
persons not in Government service. The right of interpellation has been
given, and also some share in shaping the financial arrangements
embodied in the annual budget.
CHAPTER XXIII
ADMINISTRATION--LOCAL
~Municipalities.~--It is matter for reflection that, while the effect of
British administration has been to weaken self-government in villages,
half a century of effort has failed to make it a living thing in towns
and districts. The machinery exists, but outside a few towns the result
is poor. The attempt was made on too large a scale, municipal
institutions being bestowed on places which were no more than villages
with a _bazár_. This has been partially corrected of late years. A new
official entity, the "notified area," has been invented to suit the
requirements of such places. While there were in 1904 139 municipalities
and 48 notified areas, in 1911-12 the figures were 107 and 104
respectively. Even in the latter year 32 of the municipalities had
incomes not exceeding £1000 (Rs. 15,000). The total income of the 104
towns was Rs. 71,41,000 (£476,000), of which Rs. 44,90,000 (£300,000)
were derived from taxation. Nearly 90 p.c. of the taxation was drawn
from octroi, a hardy plant which has survived much economic criticism.
The expenditure was Rs. 69,09,000 (£461,000), of which Rs. 40,32,000
(£269,000) fall under the head of "Public Health and Convenience." The
incidence of taxation was Rs. 2.6 or a little over three shillings a
head.
~District Boards.~--The district boards can at present in practice only be
treated as consultative bodies, and well handled can in that capacity
play a useful rôle. Their income is mainly derived from the local rate,
a surcharge of one-twelfth on the land revenue. In 1911-12 the income
was Rs. 53,74,000 (£358,000) and the expenditure Rs. 54,44,500
(£363,000). The local rate contributed 51 p.c. and contributions from
Government 23 p.c. of the former figure. Public works took up 41 and
Education about 20 p.c. of the expenditure.
~Elections.~--Some of the seats in most of the municipalities and boards
are filled by election when any one can be induced to vote. Public
spirit is lacking and, as a rule, except when party or sectarian spirit
is rampant, the franchise is regarded with indifference.
CHAPTER XXIV
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
~Financial Relations with Government of India.~--Local governments
exercise their financial powers in strict subordination to the
Government of India, which alone can borrow, and which requires the
submission for its sanction of the annual provincial budgets. To ensure
a reasonable amount of decentralization the Supreme Government has made
financial contracts with the provinces under which they receive definite
shares of the receipts, and are responsible for definite shares of the
expenditure, under particular heads. The existing contract dates only
from 1911-12 (see Table V).
~Income and Expenditure.~--Excluding income from railways, post offices,
telegraphs, salt, and sales of excise opium, which are wholly imperial,
the revenue of the Panjáb in 1911-12 was £5,057,000 (Rs. 758,56,000), of
which the provincial share was £2,662,200 (Rs. 399,33,000), to which
have to be added £251,800 (Rs. 37,77,000) on account of assignments made
by the Government of India to the province. This brought up the total to
£2,914,000 (Rs. 437,10,000). The expenditure was £2,691,933 (Rs.
403,79,000). This does not include £983,000 spent from loan funds on
irrigation works, chiefly the great Triple Project. The large
expenditure on railways is imperial. Of the gross income more than
three-fourths is derived from the land (Land Revenue, 46 p.c.,
Irrigation, chiefly canal water rates, 29 p.c., and Forests, 1-3/4
p.c.). The balance consists of Excise 8-1/2 p.c., Stamps, 7 p.c., Income
Tax over 2 p.c., and other heads 5-3/4 p.c.
~Land Revenue.~--Certain items are included under the Land Revenue head
which are no part of the assessment of the land. The real land revenue
of the Panjáb is about £2,000,000 and falls roughly at the rate of
eighteen pence per cultivated acre (Table II). It is not a land tax, but
an extremely moderate quit rent. In India the ruler has always taken a
share of the produce of the land from the persons in whom he recognised
a permanent right to occupy it or arrange for its tillage. The title of
the Rája to his share and the right of the occupier to hold the land he
tilled and pass it on to his children both formed part of the customary
law of the country. Under Indian rule the Rája's share was often
collected in kind, and the proportion of the crop taken left the tiller
of the soil little or nothing beyond what was needed for the bare
support of himself and his family. What the British Government did was
to commute the share in kind into a cash demand and gradually to limit
its amount to a reasonable figure. The need of moderation was not
learned without painful experience, but the Panjáb was fortunate in this
that, except as regards the Delhi territory, the lesson had been learned
and a reasonable system evolved in the United Provinces before the
officers it sent to the Panjáb began the regular assessments of the
districts of the new province. A land revenue settlement is usually made
for a term of 20 or 30 years. Since 1860 the limit of the government
demand has been fixed at one-half of the rental, but this figure is very
rarely approached in practice. Between a quarter and a third would be
nearer the mark. A large part of the land is tilled by the owners, and
the rent of the whole has to be calculated from the data for the part,
often not more than a third or two-fifths of the whole, cultivated by
tenants at will. The calculation is complicated by the fact that kind
rents consisting of a share of the crop are in most places commoner than
cash rents and are increasing in favour. The determination of the cash
value of the rent where the crop is shared is a very difficult task.
There is a large margin for error, but there can be no doubt that the
net result has almost always been undervaluation. It is probable that
the share of the produce of the fields which the land revenue absorbs
rarely exceeds one-seventh and is more often one-tenth or less. A clear
proof of the general moderation of Panjáb assessments is furnished by
the fact that in the three years ending 1910-11 the recorded prices in
sales amounted to more than Rs. 125 per rupee of land revenue of the
land sold, which may be taken as implying a belief on the part of
purchasers that the landlord's rent is not double, but five or six times
the land revenue assessment, for a man would hardly pay Rs. 125 unless
he expected to get at least six or seven rupees annual profit.
~Fluctuating Assessments.~--The old native plan of taking a share of the
crop, though it offered great opportunity for dishonesty on both sides,
had at least the merit of roughly adjusting the demand to the character
of the seasons. It was slowly realized that there were parts of the
province where the harvests were so precarious that even a very moderate
fixed cash assessment was unsuitable. Various systems of fluctuating
cash assessment have therefore been introduced, and one-fourth of the
total demand is now of this character, the proportion having been
greatly increased by the adoption of the fluctuating principle in the
new canal colonies.
~Suspensions and Remissions.~--Where fixity is retained the strain in bad
seasons is lessened by a free use of suspensions, and, if the amounts of
which the collection has been deferred accumulate owing to a succession
of bad seasons, resort is had to remission.
~Irrigation Income and Expenditure.~--In a normal year in the Panjáb over
one-fourth of the total crops is matured by the help of Government
Canals, and this proportion will soon be largely increased. In 1911-12
the income from canals amounted to £1,474,000, and the working expenses
to £984,000, leaving a surplus of £490,000. Nearly the whole of the
income is derived from water rates, which represent the price paid by
the cultivator for irrigation provided by State expenditure. The rates
vary for different crops and on different canals. The average incidence
may be roughly put at Rs. 4 or a little over five shillings per acre. In
calculating the profit on canals allowance is made for land revenue
dependent on irrigation, amounting to nearly £400,000.
[Illustration: Fig. 83. Skeleton District Map of Panjáb.]
CHAPTER XXV
PANJÁB DISTRICTS AND DELHI
~Districts and Divisions.~--The Panjáb now consists of 28 districts
grouped in five divisions. In descriptions of districts and states
boundaries, railways, and roads, which appear on the face of the inset
maps, are omitted. Details regarding cultivation and crops will be found
in Tables II, III and IV, and information as to places of note in
Chapter XXX. The revenue figures of Panjáb districts in this chapter
relate to the year 1911-12.
~Delhi Enclave.~--On the transfer of the capital of India to Delhi part of
the area of the old district of that name comprising 337 estates was
removed from the jurisdiction of the Panjáb Government and brought under
the immediate authority of the Government of India (Act No. XIII of
1912). The remainder of the district was divided between Rohtak and
Gurgáon, and the headquarters of the Delhi division were transferred to
Ambála.
The area of the new province is only 528 square miles, and the
population including that of the City is estimated at 396,997. The
cultivated area is 340 square miles, more than half of which is
cultivated by the owners themselves. The principal agricultural tribe is
the Hindu Játs, who are hard-working and thrifty peasant farmers. The
land revenue is Rs. 4,00,203 (£26,680). The above figures only relate to
the part of the enclave formerly included in the Panjáb[8]. The head of
the administration has the title of Chief Commissioner.
[Illustration: Fig. 84. Delhi Enclave.]
[Sidenote: Area,
14,832 sq. m.
Cultd area,
10,650 sq. m.
Pop. 3,704,608;
68 p.c. H.[9]
Land Rev.
Rs. 66,99,136
= £446,609.]
~The Ambála division~--includes four of the five districts of the
South-Eastern Plains, the submontane district of Ambála, and the hill
district of Simla. It is with the exception of Lahore the smallest
division, but it ranks first in cultivated area and third in population.
It is twice the size of Wales and has twice its population. The
Commissioner is in political charge of the hill state of Sirmúr and of
five petty states in the plains.
[Illustration: Fig. 85. Hissár with portions of Phulkian States etc.]
[Sidenote: Area, 5213 sq. m.
Cultd area,
4201 sq.m.
Pop. 804,809;
67 p.c. H.
Land Rev.
Rs. 9,76,749
= £67,117.]
~Hissár District.~--Hissár is the south-western district of the division
and has a long common boundary with Bikaner. It is divided into five
_tahsíls_, Hissár, Hánsi, Bhiwání, Fatehábád, and Sirsa. There are four
natural divisions, Nálí, Bágar, Rohí, and Hariána. The overflow of the
Ghagar, which runs through the north of the district, has transformed
the lands on either bank into hard intractable clay, which yields
nothing to the husbandman without copious floods. This is the Nálí. The
Bágar is a region of rolling sand stretching along the Bikaner border
from Sirsa to Bhiwání. In Sirsa to the east of the Bágar is a plain of
very light reddish loam known as the Rohí, partly watered by the Sirhind
Canal. South of the Ghagar the loam in the east of the district is
firmer, and well adapted to irrigation, which much of it obtains from
branches of the Western Jamna Canal. This tract is known as Hariána, and
has given its name to a famous breed of cattle. The Government cattle
farm at Hissár covers an area of 65 square miles. North of the Fatehábád
_tahsíl_ and surrounded by villages belonging to the Phulkian States is
an island of British territory called Budhláda. It belongs to the Jangal
Des, and has the characteristic drought-resisting sandy loam and sand of
that tract. Much of Budhláda is watered by the Sirhind Canal. Of the
total area of the district only about 9 p.c. is irrigated. The water
level is so far from the surface that well irrigation is usually
impossible, and the source of irrigation is canals.
Hissár suffered severely from the disorders which followed on the
collapse of the Moghal Empire and its ruin was consummated by the
terrible famine of 1783. The starving people died or fled and for years
the country lay desolate. It passed into the hands of the British 20
years later, but for another 20 years our hold on this outlying
territory was loose and ineffective. In 1857 the troops at Hánsi,
Hissár, and Sirsa rose and killed all the Europeans who fell into their
hands. The Muhammadan tribes followed their example, and for a time
British authority ceased to exist. The district was part of the Delhi
territory transferred to the Panjáb in 1858.
The rainfall is scanty, averaging 15 inches, and extremely capricious.
No other district suffers so much from famine as Hissár. The crops are
extraordinarily insecure, with a large surplus in a good season and
practically nothing when the rains fail badly. They consist mainly of
the cheap pulses and millets. With such fluctuating harvests it is
impossible to collect the revenues with any regularity, and large sums
have to be suspended in bad seasons.
Such industries as exist are mostly in Hánsi and Bhiwání, where there
are mills for ginning and pressing cotton. Cotton cloths tastefully
embroidered with silk, known as _phulkárís_, are a well-known local
product.
[Illustration: Fig. 86.]
[Sidenote: Area, 2248 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1815 sq. m.
Pop. 714,834.
Land Rev.
Rs. 16,66,364
= £111,091.]
~Rohtak~--became a British possession in 1803, but it was not till after
the Mutiny that it was brought wholly under direct British
administration. The old district consisted of the three _tahsíls_ of
Rohtak, Gohána, and Jhajar, but on the breaking up of the Delhi district
the Sonepat _tahsíl_ was added.
Rohtak is practically a purely agricultural tract with large villages,
but no towns of any importance. By far the most important agricultural
tribe is the Hindu Játs. They are strong-bodied sturdy farmers, who keep
fine oxen and splendid buffaloes, and live in large and well organized
village communities. 37 p.c. of the cultivation is protected by canal
and well irrigation, the former being by far the more important. The
district consists mainly of a plain of good loam soil. There have been
great canal extensions in this plain, which under irrigation is very
fertile, yielding excellent wheat, cotton, and cane. There is a rich
belt of well irrigation in the Jamna valley, and in the south of the
district there are parts where wells can be profitably worked. Belts of
uneven sandy land are found especially in the west and south. The dry
cultivation is most precarious, for the rainfall is extremely variable.
In the old district it averages 20 inches. But averages in a tract like
Rohtak mean very little. The chief crops are the two millets and gram.
[Sidenote: Area, 2264 sq.m.
Cultd Area,
1701 sq. m.
Pop. 729,167.
Land Rev.
Rs. 15,98,333
= £106,556.]
~Gurgáon~ contains six _tahsíls_, Rewárí, Gurgáon, Nuh, Firozpur,
Palwal, and Ballabgarh. The southern part of the district projects into
Rájputána, and in its physical and racial characteristics really belongs
to that region.
Rewárí is the only town of any importance. It has a large trade with
Rájputána. Apart from this the interests of the district are
agricultural. In Gurgáon the Jamna valley is for the most part narrow
and very poor. The plain above it in the Palwal _tahsíl_ has a fertile
loam soil and is irrigated by the Agra Canal. The Hindu Játs of this
part of the district are good cultivators. The rest of Gurgáon consists
mostly of sand and sandy loam and low bare hills. In Rewárí the skill
and industry of the Hindu Ahírs have produced wonderful results
considering that many of the wells are salt and much of the land very
sandy. The lazy and thriftless Meos of the southern part of the district
are a great contrast to the Ahírs. They are Muhammadans.
About a quarter of the area is protected by irrigation from wells, the
Agra Canal, and embankments or "_bands_," which catch and hold up the
hill drainages. Owing to the depth and saltness of many of the wells the
cultivation dependent on them is far from secure, and the "_band_"
irrigation is most precarious. The large dry area is subject to
extensive and complete crop failures. The average rainfall over a series
of years is 24 inches, but its irregularities from year to year are
extreme. The district is a poor one, and for its resources bears the
heaviest assessment in the Panjáb. It requires the most careful revenue
management. There are brine wells at Sultánpur, but the demand for the
salt extracted is now very small.
[Illustration: Fig. 87.]
[Sidenote: Area, 3153 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1744 sq. m.
Pop. 799,787;
70 p.c. H.
Land Rev.
Rs. 12,92,620
=£86,175.]
~Karnál~ is midway in size between Rohtak and Hissár. One-third of the
cultivation is now protected by irrigation, two-fifths of the irrigation
being from wells and three-fifths from the Western Jamna Canal. There
are four _tahsíls_, Thanesar, Karnál, Kaithal, and Pánipat. The
peasantry consists mostly of hardworking Hindu Játs, but there are also
many Hindu and Muhammadan Rájput villages. The chief towns are Pánipat,
Karnál, and Kaithal.
[Illustration: _Fig. 88._]
The district falls broadly into two divisions, the boundary between them
being the southern limit of the floods of the Sarustí in years of heavy
rainfall. The marked features of the northern division is the effect
which the floods of torrents of intermittent flow, the Sarustí,
Márkanda, Umla, and Ghagar have on agriculture. Some tracts are included
like the Andarwár and the outlying villages of the Powádh[10] in Kaithal
which are fortunately unaffected by inundation, and have good well
irrigation. The country between the Umla and Márkanda in Thanesar gets
rich silt deposits and is generally fertile. The Kaithal Nailí is the
tract affected by the overflow of the Sarustí, Umla, and Ghagar. It is a
wretched fever-stricken region where a short lived race of weakly people
reap precarious harvests. The southern division is on the whole a much
better country. It includes the whole of Karnál and Pánipat, the south
of Kaithal, and a small tract in the extreme east of the Thanesar
_tahsíl_. North of Karnál the Jamna valley or Khádir is unhealthy and
has in many parts a poor soil. South of Karnál it is much better in
every respect. Above the Khádir is the Bángar, a plain of good loam.
North of Karnál its cultivation is protected by wells and the people are
in fair circumstances. South of that town it is watered by the Western
Jamna Canal. Another slight rise brings one to the Nardak of the Karnál
and Kaithal _tahsíls_. Till the excavation of the Sirsa branch of the
Western Jamna Canal and of the Nardak Distributary much of the Nardak
was covered with _dhák_ jangal, and the cultivation was of the most
precarious nature, for in this part of the district the rainfall is both
scanty and capricious, and well cultivation is only possible in the
north. The introduction of canal irrigation has effected an enormous
change. Wheat and gram are the great crops.
Historically Karnál is one of the most interesting districts. The Nardak
is the scene of the great struggle celebrated in the Mahábhárata. The
district contains the holy city of Thanesar, once the capital of a great
Hindu kingdom. It has found climate a more potent instrument of ruin
than the sword of Mahmúd of Ghazní, who sacked it in 1014. It still on
the occasion of Eclipse fairs attracts enormous crowds of pilgrims.
Pihowa is another very sacred place. Naráina, a few miles to the
north-west of Karnál, was the scene of two famous fights[11], and three
times, in 1526, 1556, and 1761, the fate of India was decided at
Pánipat.
[Sidenote: Area, 1851 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1174 sq. m.
Pop. 689,970.
Land Rev.
Rs. 11,47,688
= £76,513]
~Ambála~ is a submontane district of very irregular
shape. It includes two small hill tracts,
Morní and Kasaulí. There is little irrigation,
for in most parts the rainfall is ample.
Wheat is the chief crop. The population
has been declining in the past 20 years.
[Illustration: Fig. 89.]
The only town of importance is Ambála. Jagádhrí is a busy little place
now connected through private enterprise by a light railway with the N.
W. Railway. The district consists of two parts almost severed from one
another physically and wholly different as regards people, language, and
agricultural prosperity. The Rúpar subdivision in the north-west beyond
the Ghagar has a fertile soil, and, except in the Nálí, as the tract
flooded by the Ghagar is called, a vigorous Ját peasantry, whose native
tongue is Panjábí. The three south-eastern _tahsíls_, Ambála,
Naráingarh, and Jagádhrí, are weaker in every respect. The loam is often
quite good, but interspersed with it are tracts of stubborn clay largely
put under precarious rice crops. The Játs are not nearly so good as
those of Rúpar, and Rájputs, who are mostly Musulmáns, own a large
number of estates.
[Sidenote: Area, 101 sq. m.
Cultd area,
15 sq. m.
Pop. in Feb.
1911, 39,320.
Land Rev.
Rs. 17,484
= £1166.]
Simla consists of three little tracts in the hills known as Bharaulí,
Kotkhai, and Kotgarh, and of patches of territory forming the
cantonments of Dagshai, Subáthu, Solon, and Jutogh, the site of the
Lawrence Military School at Sanáwar, and the great hill station of
Simla. Bharaulí lies south-west of Simla in the direction of Kasaulí.
Kotkhai is in the valley of the Girí, a tributary of the Jamna. Kotgarh
is on the Sutlej and borders on the Bashahr State. The Deputy
Commissioner of Simla is also Superintendent or Political Officer of 28
hill states.
[Sidenote: Area,
19,934 sq. m.
Cultd area,
7762 sq. m.
Pop. 3,967,724.
Land Rev.
Rs. 61,64,172
= £410,945.]
~Jalandhar Division.~--More than half the area of the Jalandhar division
is contributed by the huge district of Kángra, which stretches from the
Plains to the lofty snowy ranges on the borders of Tibet. The other
districts are Hoshyárpur in the submontane zone, Jalandhar and Ludhiána,
which belong to the Central Plains, and Ferozepore, which is part of the
South-Eastern Panjáb. Sikhs are more numerous than in any other
division, but are outnumbered by both Hindus and Muhammadans. The
Commissioner has political charge of the hill states of Mandí and Suket
and of Kapúrthala in the Plains.
[Sidenote: Area, 9878 sq. m.
Cultd area,
918 sq. m.
Pop. 770,386;
94 p.c. H.
Land Rev.
Rs. 9,26,661
= £61,777.]
~Kángra~ is the largest district in the Panjáb. It includes three tracts
of very different character:
(_a_) Spití and Lahul, area exceeding 4400 square miles, forming part of
Tibet;
(_b_) Kulu and Saráj;
(_c_) Kángra proper, area 2939 square miles.
[Illustration: Fig. 90.]
Lahul, Spití, Kulu, and Saráj form a subdivision in charge of an
Assistant Commissioner. The people of Kángra are Hindus. Islám never
penetrated into these hills as a religion, though the Rájput Rájas of
Kángra became loyal subjects of the Moghal Emperors. In its last days
Ranjít Singh called in as an ally against the Gurkhas remained as a
hated ruler. The country was ceded to the British Government in 1846.
The Rájas were chagrined that we did not restore to them their royal
authority, but only awarded them the status of _jagírdárs_. An outbreak,
which was easily suppressed, occurred in 1848. Since then Kángra has
enjoyed 65 years of peace. A Gurkha regiment is stationed at the
district headquarters at Dharmsála. The cultivation ranges from the rich
maize and rice fields of Kulu and Kángra to the poor buckwheat and
_kulath_ on mountain slopes. Rice is irrigated by means of _kuhls_,
ingeniously constructed channels to lead the water of the torrents on to
the fields.
~Spití and Lahul.~--Spití, or rather Pití, is a country of great rugged
mountains, whose bare red and yellow rocks rise into crests of
everlasting snow showing clear under a cloudless blue sky. There is no
rain, but in winter the snowfall is heavy. The highest of the mountains
exceeds 23,000 feet. Pití is drained by the river of the same name,
which after passing through Bashahr falls I into the Sutlej at an
elevation of 11,000 feet. Of the few villages several stand at a height
of from 13,000 to 14,000 feet. The route to Pití from Kulu passes over
the Hamtu Pass (14,200 feet) and the great Shigrí glacier. The people
are Buddhists. They are governed by their hereditary ruler or Nono
assisted by five elders, the Assistant Commissioner exercising a general
supervision. Indian laws do not apply to the sparse population of this
remote canton, which has a special regulation of its own. Lahul lies to
the west of Pití, from which it is separated by a lofty range. It is
entered from Kulu by the Rotang Pass (13,000 feet) and the road from it
to Ladákh passes over the Baralácha (16,350 feet). The whole country is
under snow from December to April, but there is very little rain. The
two streams, the Chandra and Bhága, which unite to form the Chenáb, flow
through Lahul and the few villages are situated at a height of 10,000
feet in their elevated valleys. The people are Buddhists. In summer the
population is increased by "Gaddí" shepherds from Kángra, who drive lean
flocks in the beginning of June over the Rotang and take them back from
the Alpine pastures in the middle of September fat and well liking.
[Illustration: Fig. 91. Biás at Manálí.]
~Kulu and Saráj.~--The Kulu Valley, set in a mountain frame and with the
Biás, here a highland stream, running through the heart of it, is one of
the fairest parts of the Panjáb Himálaya. Manálí, at the top of the
Valley on the road to the Rotang, is a very beautiful spot. Kulu is
connected with Kángra through Mandí by the Babbu and Dulchí passes. The
latter is generally open the whole year round. The headquarters are at
Sultánpur, but the Assistant Commissioner lives at Nagar. In Kulu the
cultivation is often valuable and the people are well off. The climate
is good and excellent apples and pears are grown by European settlers.
Inner and outer Saráj are connected by the Jalaori Pass on the watershed
of the Sutlej and Biás. Saráj is a much rougher and poorer country than
Kulu. There are good _deodár_ forests in the Kulu subdivision. In 1911
the population of Kulu, Saráj, Lahul, and Pití, numbered 124,803. The
Kulu people are a simple folk in whose primitive religion local godlings
of brass each with his little strip of territory take the place of the
Brahmanic gods. It is a quaint sight to see their ministers carrying
them on litters to the fair at Sultánpur, where they all pay their
respects to a little silver god known as Raghunáthjí, who is in a way
their suzerain.
[Illustration: Fig. 92. Religious Fair in Kulu.]
Kángra proper is bounded on the north by the lofty wall of the Dhaula
Dhár and separated from Kulu by the mountains of Bara Bangáhal. It
consists of the five _tahsíls_ of Kángra, Palampur, Nurpur, Dera, and
Hamírpur. The first two occupy the rich and beautiful Kángra Valley.
They are separated from the other three _tahsíls_ by a medley of low
hills with a general trend from N.W. to S.E. They are drained by the
Biás, and are much more broken and poorer than the Kángra Valley. The
tea industry, once important, is now dead so far as carried on by
English planters. The low hills have extensive _chír_ pine forests. They
have to be managed mainly in the interests of the local population, and
are so burdened with rights that conservation is a very difficult
problem. In 1911 the population of the five _tahsíls_ amounted to
645,583. The most important tribes are Brahmans, Rájputs, and
hardworking Gírths. The hill Brahman is usually a farmer pure and
simple.
[Illustration: Fig. 93. Kulu Women.]
[Illustration: Fig. 94.]
[Sidenote: Area, 2247 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1128 sq. m.
Pop. 918,569;
54 p.c. H.
Land Rev.
Rs. 14,22,527
= £494,835.]
~Hoshyárpur~ became a British possession in 1846 after the first Sikh
War. It is a typically submontane district. A line of low bare hills
known as the Solasinghí Range divides it from Kángra. Further west the
Katár dhár, a part of the Siwáliks, runs through the heart of the
district. Between these two ranges lies the fertile Jaswan Dun
corresponding to the Una _tahsíl_. The other three _tahsíls_,
Garhshankar, Hoshyárpur, and Dasúya, are to the west of the Katár dhár.
Una is drained by the Soan, a tributary of the Sutlej. The western
_tahsíls_ have a light loam soil of great fertility, except where it has
been overlaid by sand from the numerous _chos_ or torrents which issue
from the Siwáliks. The denudation of that range was allowed to go on for
an inordinate time with disastrous results to the plains below. At last
the Panjáb Land Preservation (_Chos_) Act II of 1890 gave the Government
power to deal with the evil, but it will take many years to remedy the
mischief wrought by past inaction. The rainfall averages about 32 inches
and the crops are secure. The population has fallen off by 93,000 in 20
years, a striking instance of the ravages of plague. The chief tribes
are Játs, Rájputs, and Gújars.
[Sidenote: Area, 1431 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1069 sq. m.
Pop. 801,920;
45 p.c. M.
33 p.c. H.
22 p.c. S.
Land Rev.
Rs. 14,77,661
= £98,511.]
~Jalandhar District.~--Modern though the town of Jalandhar looks it was
the capital of a large Hindu kingdom, which included also Hoshyárpur,
Mandí, Suket, and Chamba, and in the ninth century was a rival of
Kashmír (page 160). The present district is with the exception of Simla
the smallest, and for its size the richest, in the province. It contains
four _tahsíls_, Nawashahr, Phillaur, Jalandhar, and Nakodar. About 45
p.c. of the cultivation is protected by 28,000 wells. Behind the long
river frontage on the Sutlej is the Bet, divided by a high bank from the
more fertile uplands. The soil of the latter is generally an excellent
loam, but there is a good deal of sand in the west of the district. The
rainfall averages about 26 inches and the climate is healthy. The well
cultivation is the best in the Panjáb. Between 1901 and 1911 the
population declined by 13 p.c. Játs and Arains, both excellent
cultivators, are the predominant tribes. British rule dates from 1846.
[Illustration: Fig. 95.]
[Sidenote: Area, 1452 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1143 sq. m.
Pop. 517,192;
40 p.c. S.
35 p.c. M
25 p.c. H.
Land Rev.
Rs. 11,57,399
= £77,160.]
~Ludhiána~ on the opposite bank of the Sutlej is also a very small
district. It consists of a river Bet and Uplands with generally speaking
a good loam soil. But there are very sandy outlying estates in the
Jangal Des surrounded by Patiála and Jínd villages. There are three
_tahsíls_, Samrála, Ludhiána, and Jagráon. Of the cultivated area 26
p.c. is irrigated, from wells (19) and from the Sirhind Canal (7). Wheat
and gram are the principal crops. Between 1901 and 1911 the population
fell from 673,097 to 517,192, the chief cause of decline being plague.
Sturdy hard-working Játs are the backbone of the peasantry. They furnish
many recruits to the Army. Ludhiána is a thriving town and an important
station on the N.W. Railway. Our connection with Ludhiána began in 1809,
and the district assumed practically its present shape in 1846 after the
first Sikh War.
[Illustration: Fig. 96.]
[Sidenote: Area, 4286 sq. m.
Cultd area,
3504 sq. m.
Pop. 959,657;
44 p.c. M.
29 p.c. H.
27 p.c. S.
Land Rev.
Rs. 11,79,924
= £78,661.]
~Ferozepore~ is a very large district. The Farídkot State nearly cuts it
in two. The northern division includes the _tahsíls_ of Ferozepore,
Zíra, and Moga, the last with an outlying tract known as Mahráj, which
forms an island surrounded by the territory of several native states.
The southern division contains the _tahsíls_ of Muktsar and Fázilka. Our
connection with Ferozepore began in 1809, and, when the widow of the
last Sikh chief of Ferozepore died in 1835, we assumed direct
responsibility for the administration of a considerable part of the
district. Two of the great battles of the first Sikh War, Mudkí and
Ferozesháh or more properly Pherushahr, were fought within its borders.
Mamdot with an area of about 400 square miles ceased to be independent
in 1855, but the descendant of the last ruler still holds it in _jagír_.
Fázilka was added in 1864 when the Sirsa district was broken up. Of the
cultivated area 47-1/2 p.c. is irrigated by the Sirhind Canal, the Grey
Inundation Canals, and wells. For the most part the district is divided
into three tracts, the riverain, Hithár or Bet, with a poor clay soil
and a weak population, the Utár, representing river deposits of an older
date when the Sutlej ran far west of its present bed, and the Rohí, an
upland plain of good sandy loam, now largely irrigated by the Sirhind
Canal. The Grey Canals furnish a far less satisfactory source of
irrigation to villages in the Bet and Utár. In different parts of this
huge district the rainfall varies from 10 to 22 inches. The chief crops
are gram and wheat. The Játs are the chief tribe. In the Uplands they
are a fine sturdy race, but unfortunately they are addicted to strong
drink, and violent crime is rife. Ferozepore has a large cantonment and
arsenal and a big trade in grain. It is an important railway junction.
[Illustration: Fig. 97.]
[Sidenote: Area,
12,387 sq. m.
Cultd area,
7924 sq. m.
Pop 4,656,629;
57 p.c. M.
24 p.c. H.
16 p.c. S.
Land Rev.
Rs. 70,53,856
= £470,257.]
~Lahore Division.~--Lahore is the smallest division, but the first in
population. Its political importance is great as the home of the Sikhs
of the Mánjha, and because the capital of the province and the sacred
city of the _Khálsa_ are both within its limits. It contains the five
districts of Gurdáspur, Siálkot, Gujránwála, Lahore, and Amritsar. The
Commissioner is in political charge of the Chamba State.
[Sidenote: Area, 1809 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1281 sq. m.
Pop. 836,771;
49 p.c. M.
34 p.c. H.
14-1/2 p.c. S.
Land Rev.
Rs. 17,68,412
= £117,894.]
~Gurdáspur~ is a submontane district with a good rainfall and a large
amount of irrigation. The crops are secure except in part of the
Shakargarh _tahsíl_. 27 p.c. of the cultivated area is irrigated, 16 by
wells and 11 by the Upper Bárí Doáb Canal. Irrigation is only allowed
from the Canal for the Autumn harvest. The chief crop is wheat and the
area under cane is unusually large. Of late years plague has been very
fatal and the population fell from 940,334 in 1901 to 836,771 in 1911.
Játs, Rájputs, Arains, Gújars, and Brahmans, are the chief agricultural
tribes, the first being by far the most important element. There are
four _tahsíls_, Batála, Gurdáspur, and Pathánkot in the Bárí Doáb, and
Shakargarh to the west of the Ráví. Batála is one of the most fertile
and prosperous tracts in the Panjáb and Gurdáspur is also thriving.
Pathánkot is damp, fever stricken, and unprosperous. It lies mostly in
the plains but contains a considerable area in the low hills and higher
up two enclaves, Bakloh and Dalhousie, surrounded by Chamba villages.
Shakargarh is much more healthy, and is better off than Pathánkot. There
is good duck and snipe shooting to be got in some parts of the district,
as the drainage from the hills collects in swamps and _jhíls_.
[Illustration: Fig. 98.]
[Illustration: Fig. 99.]
Area, 1991 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1427 sq. m.
Pop. 979,553;
62 p.c. M.
25 p.c. H.
8 p.c. S.
Land Rev.
Rs. 14,79,390
= £98,626.
~Siálkot~ is another secure and fully cultivated submontane district. It
lies wholly in the Rechna Doáb and includes a small well-watered hilly
tract, Bajwát, on the borders of Jammu. The Ráví divides Siálkot from
Amritsar an the Chenáb separates it from Gujrát. The Degh and some
smaller torrents run through the district. In the south there is much
hard sour clay, part hitherto unculturable. But irrigation from the
Upper Chenáb Canal will give a new value to it. There are five
_tahsíls_, Zafarwál, Siálkot, Daska, Pasrúr, and Raya. The chief crop is
wheat which is largely grown on the wells, numbering 22,000. The
pressure of the population on the soil was considerable, but since 1891
the total has fallen from 1,119,847 to 979,553 as the result of plague
and emigration to the new canal colonies. Christianity has obtained a
considerable number of converts in Siálkot. The Játs form the backbone
of the peasantry. Rájputs and Arains are also important tribes, but
together they are not half as numerous as the Játs.
[Illustration: Fig. 100.]
[Sidenote: Area, 4802 sq. m.
Cultd area,
2166 sq. m.
Pop. 923,419.
Land Rev.
Rs. 15,43,440
= £102,896.]
~Gujránwála~ is a very large district in the Rechna Doáb, with five
_tahsíls_, Wazírábád, Gujránwála, Sharakpur, Háfizábád, and Khángáh
Dográn. The rainfall varies from 20 inches on the Siálkot border to ten
or eleven in the extreme south-west corner of the district. Gujránwála
is naturally divided into three tracts: the Riverain of the Ráví and
Chenáb, the Bángar or well tract, and the Bár once very partially
cultivated, but now commanded by the Lower and Upper Chenáb Canals.
Enormous development has taken place in the Háfizábád and Khángáh Dográn
_tahsíls_ in the 20 years since the Lower Chenáb Canal was opened. Of
late years the rest of the district has suffered from plague and
emigration, and has not prospered. But a great change will be effected
by irrigation from the Upper Chenáb Canal, which is just beginning. In
the east of the district much sour clay will become culturable land, and
the Bár will be transformed as in the two _tahsíls_ watered by the older
canal. Of the cultivated area 73-1/2 p.c. is irrigated, 36-1/2 from
wells and 37 from canals. The chief crops are wheat and gram. There is,
as is usual in the Western Panjáb, a great preponderance of Spring
crops. The Játs are far and away the strongest element in the
population.
[Sidenote: Area, 1601 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1184 sq. m.
Pop. 880,728;
46 p.c. M.
29 p.c. S.
24 p.c. H.
Land Rev.
Rs. 12,70,799
= £84,720.]
~Amritsar~ is a small district lying in the Bárí Doáb between Gurdáspur
and Lahore. 62 p.c. of the cultivated area is irrigated, half from
12,000 wells and half from the Upper Bárí Doáb Canal. Unfortunately much
waterlogging exists, due to excessive use of canal water and defective
drainage. Measures are now being taken to deal with this great evil,
which has made the town of Amritsar and other parts of the district
liable to serious outbreaks of fever. There are two small riverain
tracts on the Biás and Ráví and a poor piece of country in Ajnála
flooded by the Sakkí. The main part of the district is a monotonous
plain of fertile loam. The two western _tahsíls_, Amritsar and Tarn
Táran, are prosperous, Ajnála is depressed. The rainfall is moderate
averaging 21 or 22 inches, and the large amount of irrigation makes the
harvests secure. The chief crops are wheat and gram.
[Illustration: Fig. 101.]
The Sikh Játs of the Mánjha to the south of the Grand Trunk Road form by
far the most important element in the population. Between 1901 and 1911
there was a falling off from 1,023,828 to 880,728. Besides its religious
importance the town of Amritsar is a great trade centre.
[Illustration: Fig. 102.]
[Sidenote: Area, 2824 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1866 sq. m.
Pop. 1,036,158.
Land Rev.
Rs. 991,815
= £66,121.]
~Lahore~ lies in the Bárí Doáb to the south-west of Amritsar. It is a
much larger district, though, like Amritsar, it has only three
_tahsíls_, Lahore, Kasúr, and Chúnian. 76 p.c. of the cultivated area is
irrigated, 23 from wells and 53 from canals. There has been an enormous
extension of irrigation from the Upper Bárí Doáb Canal in the past 30
years. Accordingly, though the rainfall is somewhat scanty, the crops
are generally secure. The principal are wheat and gram. The district
consists of the Riverain on the Biás and Ráví, the latter extending to
both sides of the river, and the plain of the Mánjha, largely held by
strong and energetic Sikh Játs. In the Ráví valley industrious Arains
predominate. Railway communications are excellent. Trade activity is not
confined to the city of Lahore. Kasúr, Chúnian, and Raiwind are
important local centres.
[Sidenote: Area,
21,361 sq. m.
Cultd area,
8099 sq.m.
Pop. 3,353,052;
87 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 50,43,587
= £336,239.]
The ~Ráwalpindí Division~ occupies the N.W. of the Panjáb. It is in area
the second largest division, but in population the smallest. Five-sixths
of the people profess the faith of Islam. It includes six districts,
Gujrát, Jhelam, Ráwalpindi, Attock, Mianwálí, and Sháhpur. This is the
division from which the Panjáb Musalmáns, who form so valuable an
element in our army, are drawn.
[Illustration: Fig. 103.]
[Sidenote: Area, 2357 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1369 sq. m.
Pop. 784,011.
Land Rev.
Ra. 887,220
= £59,148.]
~Gujrát~ lies in the Jech Doáb. The two northern _tahsíls_, Gujrát and
Kharián, have many of the features of a submontane tract. In the former
the Pabbí, a small range of low bare hills, runs parallel to the Jhelam,
and the outliers of the Himálaya in Kashmír are not far from the
northern border of the district. The uplands of these two _tahsíls_
slope pretty rapidly from N.E. to S.W., and contain much light soil.
They are traversed by sandy torrents, dry in winter, but sometimes very
destructive in the rains. Phália on the other hand is a typical plain's
_tahsíl_. It has on the Chenáb a wide riverain, which also separates the
uplands of the Gujrát _tahsíl_ from that river. The Jhelam valley is
much narrower. Above the present Chenáb alluvial tract there is in
Phália a well tract known as the Hithár whose soil consists of older
river deposits, and at a higher level a Bár, which will now receive
irrigation from the Upper Jhelam Canal and become a rich agricultural
tract. 26 p.c. of the cultivated area is irrigated from wells. Játs and
Gújars are the great agricultural tribes, the former predominating. The
climate is mild and the rainfall sufficient. The chief crops are wheat
and _bájra_.
[Sidenote: Area, 2813 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1162 sq. m.
Pop. 511,575;
88 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Ra. 752,758
= £50,183.]
The ~Jhelam district~ lies to the north of the river of the same name.
The district is divided into three _tahsíls_, Jhelam, Chakwál, Pind
Dádan Khán. The river frontage is long, extending for about 80 miles,
and the river valley is about eight miles wide. The district contains
part of the Salt Range, from the eastern end of which the Nílí and Tilla
spurs strike northwards, enclosing very broken ravine country called the
Khuddar. The Pabbí tract, embracing the Chakwál _tahsíl_ and the north
of the Jhelam _tahsíl_, is much less broken, though it too is scored by
deep ravines and traversed by torrents, mostly flowing north-west into
the Sohán river. Two large torrents, the Kahá and the Bunhár, drain into
the Jhelam. There are some fertile valleys enclosed in the bare hills of
the Salt Range. The average rainfall is about 20 inches and the climate
is good. It is hot in summer, but the cold weather is long, and
sometimes for short periods severe. There is little irrigation and the
harvests are by no means secure. The chief crops are wheat and _bájra_.
The country breeds fine horses, fine cattle, and fine men. Numerically
Játs, Rájputs, and Awáns are the principal tribes, but the Janjuas and
Gakkhars, though fewer in number, are an interesting element in the
population, having great traditions behind them. Awáns, Janjuas, and
Gakkhars supply valuable recruits to the army. Most of the villages are
far from any railway.
[Illustration: Fig. 104.]
[Sidenote: Area, 2010 sq. m.
Cultd area,
937 sq. m.
Pop. 547,827;
83 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 674,650
= £44,977.]
[Illustration: Fig. 105.]
~Ráwalpindí~ is the smallest district in the division. Along the whole
eastern border the Jhelam, which runs in a deep gorge, divides it from
Kashmír. There are four _tahsíls_, Murree, Kahúta, Ráwalpindí, and Gújar
Khán. The first is a small wedge of mountainous country between Kashmír
and Hazára. The hills are continued southwards at a lower level in the
Kahúta _tahsíl_ parallel with the Jhelam. The greater part of the
district consists of a high plateau of good light loam, in parts much
eaten into by ravines. Where, as often happens, it is not flat the
fields have to be carefully banked up. The plateau is drained by the
Sohán and the Kánshí. The latter starting in the south of Kahúta runs
through the south-east of the Gújar Khán _tahsíl_, and for some miles
forms the boundary of the Ráwalpindí and Jhelam districts. The district
is very fully cultivated except in the hills. In the plains the rainfall
is sufficient and the soil very cool and clean, except in the extreme
west, where it is sometimes gritty, and, while requiring more, gets
less, rain. The chief crops are wheat, the _Kharíf_ pulses and _bájra_.
The climate is good. The cold weather is long, and, except in January
and February, when the winds from the snows are very trying, it is
pleasant. In the plains the chief tribes are Rájputs and Awáns. Gakkhars
are of some importance in Kahúta. In the Murree the leading tribes are
the Dhúnds and the Sattís, the latter a fine race, keen on military
service.
[Illustration: Fig. 106. Shop in Murree Bazár.]
~Ráwalpindí~ is the largest cantonment in Northern India. From it the
favourite hill station of Murree is easily reached, and soon after
leaving Murree the traveller crosses the Jhelam by the Kohála bridge and
enters the territory of the Mahárája of Kashmír.
[Sidenote: Area, 4025 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1678 sq. m.
Pop. 519,273;
91 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 672,851
=£44,857.]
[Illustration: Fig. 107.]
~Attock district.~--Though Attock is twice the size of Ráwalpindí it has
a smaller population. Nature has decreed that it should be sparsely
peopled. The district stretches from the Salt Range on the south to the
Hazára border on the north. It contains itself the fine Kálachitta range
in the north, the small and barren Khairí Múrat range in the centre, and
a line of bare hills running parallel with the Indus in the west. That
river forms the western boundary for 120 miles, dividing Attock from
Pesháwar and Kohát. It receives in the Attock district two tributaries,
the Haro and the Soán. There are four _tahsíls_, Attock, Fatehjang,
Pindigheb, and Talagang. The northern _tahsíl_ of Attock is most
favoured by nature. It contains the Chach plain, part of which has a
rich soil and valuable well irrigation, also on the Hazára border a
small group of estates watered by cuts from the Haro. The south of the
_tahsíl_ is partly sandy and partly has a dry gritty or stony soil. Here
the crops are very insecure. The rest of the district is a plateau. The
northern part consists of the _tahsíls_ of Fatehjang and Pindigheb
drained by the Soán and its tributary the Sil. The southern is occupied
by _tahsíl_ Talagang, a rough plateau with deep ravines and torrents
draining northwards into the Soán. In the valleys of the Sil and Soán
some good crops are raised. The soil of the plateau is very shallow, and
the rainfall being scanty the harvest is often dried up. The chief crops
are wheat and _bájra_. Awáns form the bulk of the agricultural
population.
[Sidenote: Area, 5395 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1020 sq. m.
Pop. 341,377;
88 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 359,836
= £23,989.]
~Mianwálí~ is one of the largest districts, but has the smallest
population of any except Simla. The Indus has a course of about 180
miles in Mianwálí. In the north it forms the boundary between the
Mianwálí _tahsíl_ and the small Isakhel _tahsíl_ on the right bank. In
the south it divides the huge Bhakkar _tahsíl_, which is bigger than an
average district, from the Dera Ismail Khán district of the N.W.F.
Province. It is joined from the west by the Kurram, which has a short
course in the south of the Isakhel _tahsíl_. The Salt Range extends into
the district, throwing off from its western extremity a spur which runs
north to the Indus opposite Kálabágh. Four tracts may be distinguished,
two large and two small. North and east of the Salt Range is the Khuddar
or ravine country, a little bit of the Awánkárí or Awán's land, which
occupies a large space in Attock. West of the Indus in the north the
wild and desolate Bhangí-Khel glen with its very scanty and scattered
cultivation runs north to the Kohát Hills. The rest of the district
consists of the wide and flat valley of the Indus and the Thal or
Uplands. In the north the latter includes an area of strong thirsty
loam, but south of the railway it is a huge expanse of sand rising
frequently into hillocks and ridges with some fertile bottoms of better
soil. Except in the north the Thal people used to make their living
almost entirely as shepherds and camel owners. There were scattered
little plots of better soil where wells were sunk, and the laborious and
careful cultivation was and is Dutch in its neatness. Some millets were
grown in the autumn and the sandhills yielded melons. The people have
now learned that it is worth while to gamble with a spring crop of gram,
and this has led to an enormous extension of the cultivated area. But
even now in Mianwálí this is a comparatively small fraction of the total
area. There is a small amount of irrigation from wells and in the
neighbourhood of Isakhel from canal cuts from the Kurram. Owing to the
extreme scantiness of the rainfall the riverain depends almost entirely
on the Indus floods, to assist the spread of which a number of
embankments are maintained. Everywhere in Mianwálí the areas both of
crops sown and of crops that ripen fluctuate enormously, and much of the
revenue has accordingly been put on a fluctuating basis. The chief crops
are wheat, _bájra_, and gram. Jats[12] are in a great majority
Cis-Indus, but Patháns are important in Isakhel.
[Illustration: Fig. 108.]
[Sidenote: Area, 4791 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1933 sq. m.
Pop. 648,989.
Land Rev.
Rs. 16,96,272
= £113,085.]
~Sháhpur~ is also a very large district with the three _tahsíls_ of
Bhera, Sháhpur, and Sargodha in the Jech Doáb, and on the west of the
Jhelam the huge Khusháb _tahsíl_, which in size exceeds the other three
put together. The principal tribes are Jats Cis-Jhelam, Awáns in the
Salt Range, and Jats and Tiwánas in Khusháb. The Tiwána Maliks have
large estates on both sides of the river and much local influence. East
of the Jhelam the colonization of the Bár after the opening of the Lower
Jhelam Canal has led to a great increase of population and a vast
extension of the cultivated area, 71 p.c. of which is irrigated. The
part of the district in the Jech Doáb consists of the river valleys of
the Chenáb and Jhelam, the Utár, and the Bár. The Chenáb riverain is
poor, the Jhelam very fertile with good well irrigation. In the north of
the district the Utár, a tract of older alluvium, lies between the
present valley of the Jhelam and the Bár. It has hitherto been largely
irrigated by public and private inundation canals, but this form of
irrigation may be superseded by the excavation of a new distributary
from the Lower Jhelam Canal. Till the opening of that canal the Bár was
a vast grazing area with a little cultivation on scattered wells and in
natural hollows. North of the Kirána Hill the soil is excellent and the
country is now a sheet of cultivation. In the south of the Bár much of
the land is too poor to be worth tillage. The Khusháb _tahsíl_ consists
of the Jhelam riverain, the Salt Range with some fertile valleys hidden
amid barren hills, the Mohár below the hills with a thirsty soil
dependent on extremely precarious torrent floods, and the Thal, similar
to that described on page 260. The rainfall of the district is scanty
averaging eleven or twelve inches. The chief crops are wheat, _bájra_
and _jowár_, _charí_ and cotton.
[Illustration: Fig. 109.]
[Sidenote: Area,
28,652 sq. m.
Cultd area,
9160 sq. m.
Pop. 3,772,728;
78 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 81,48,103
= £542,872.]
The ~Multán~ division consists of the six districts of the S.W. Panjáb,
Montgomery, Lyallpur, Jhang, Multán, Muzaffargarh, and Dera Ghází Khán.
Muhammadans are in an overwhelming majority. Wheat and cotton are the
chief crops.
[Sidenote: Area, 4649 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1080 sq. m.
Pop. 535,299;
75 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 434,563
= £28,971.]
The ~Montgomery~ district takes its name from Sir Robert Montgomery
(page 192). It lies in the Bárí Doáb between the Sutlej and the Ráví. It
consists of the two Ráví _tahsíls_ of Gugera and Montgomery, and the two
Sutlej _tahsíls_ of Dipálpur and Pákpattan. The trans-Ráví area of the
Montgomery district was transferred to Lyallpur in April, 1913. It is
included in the figures for area and population given in the margin.
The backbone of the district is a high and dry tract known as the Ganjí
or Bald Bár. The advent of the Lower Bárí Doáb Canal will entirely
change the character of this desert. Its south-eastern boundary is a
high bank marking the course of the old bed of the Biás. Below this is
the wide Sutlej valley. The part beyond the influence of river floods
depends largely on the Khánwáh and Sohág Pára inundation Canals. The
Ráví valley to the north-west of the Bár is naturally fertile and has
good well irrigation. But it has suffered much by the failure of the
Ráví floods.
[Illustration: Fig. 110.]
The peasantry belongs largely to various tribes described vaguely as
Játs. The most important are Káthias, Wattús, and Kharrals. The last
gave trouble in 1857 and were severely punished. The Dipálpur Kambohs
are much more hard-working than these semi-pastoral Játs. There is
already a small canal colony on the Sohág Pára Canals and arrangements
for the colonization of the Ganjí Bár are now in progress.
[Sidenote: Area, 3156 sq. m.
Cultd area,
2224 sq. m.
Pop. 857,711;
61 p.c. M.
18 p.c. H.
17 p.c. S.
4 p.c. Ch.[13]
Land Rev.
Rs. 37,55,139
= £237,009.]
The ~Lyallpur district~ occupies most of the Sándal Bár, which a quarter
of a century ago was a desert producing scrub jungle and, if rains were
favourable, excellent grass. It was the home of a few nomad graziers.
The area of the district, which was formed in 1904 and added to from
time to time, has been taken out of the Crown Waste of the Jhang and
Montgomery districts on its colonization after the opening of the Lower
Chenáb Canal. Some old villages near the present borders of these two
districts have been included. The colonization of the Sándal Bár has
been noticed on pages 139-140. The figures for area and population given
in the margin are for the district as it was before the addition of the
trans-Ráví area of Montgomery.
[Illustration: Fig. 111.]
Lyallpur is divided into the four _tahsíls_ of Lyallpur, Járanwala,
Samundrí, and Toba Tek Singh. It consists almost entirely of a flat
plain of fertile loam with fringes of poor land on the eastern, western,
and southern edges. The cultivated area is practically all canal
irrigated. The rainfall of 10 inches does not encourage dry cultivation.
The chief crops are wheat, the oil seed called _toria_, cotton, and
gram. The area of the first much exceeds that of the other three put
together. There is an enormous export of wheat and oil seeds to Karáchí.
[Illustration: Fig. 112.]
[Sidenote: Area, 3363 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1214 sq. m.
Pop. 515,526;
82 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 11,67,965
= £77,864.]
~Jhang~ now consists of a wedge of country lying between Lyallpur on the
east and Sháhpur, Mianwálí, and Muzaffargarh on the west. It contains
the valleys of the Chenáb and Jhelam rivers, which unite to the
south-west of the district headquarters and flow as a single stream to
the southern boundary. The valley of the Jhelam is pretty and fertile,
that of the Chenáb exactly the reverse. In the west of the district part
of the Thal is included in the boundary. The high land between the river
valleys is much of it poor. Irrigation from the Lower Jhelam Canal is
now available. There is a fringe of high land on the east of the Chenáb
valley, partly commanded by the Lower Chenáb Canal. Jhang is divided
into the three large _tahsíls_ of Jhang, Chiniot, and Shorkot. The
rainfall is about ten inches and the summer long and very hot. The chief
crops are wheat, _jowár_, and _charí_. The Siáls are few in number, but
are the tribe that stands highest in rank as representing the former
rulers.
[Illustration: Fig. 113.]
[Sidenote: Area, 6107 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1756 sq. m.
Pop. 814,871;
82 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 13,74,472
= £91,631.]
~Multán~ occupies the south of the Bárí Doáb. The Ráví flows from east
to west across the north of the district and falls into the Chenáb
within its boundary. The Sutlej meets the combined stream of the Jhelam,
Chenáb, and Ráví at the south-west corner of the district.
A part of the Kabírwála _tahsíl_ lies beyond the Ráví. The other four
_tahsíls_ are Multán, Shujábád, Lodhran, and Mailsí. In a very hot
district with an average rainfall of six inches cultivation must depend
on irrigation or river floods. The present sources of irrigation are
inundation canals from the Chenáb and Sutlej supplemented by well
irrigation, and the Sidhnai Canal from the Ráví. The district consists
of the river valleys, older alluvial tracts slightly higher than these
valleys, but which can be reached by inundation canals[14], and the high
central Bár, which is a continuation of the Ganjí Bár in Montgomery.
Part of this will be served by the new Lower Bárí Doáb Canal. The
population consists mainly of miscellaneous tribes grouped together
under the name of Jats, the ethnological significance of which in the
Western Panjáb is very slight. They are Muhammadans. The district is
well served by railways.
[Sidenote: Area, 6052 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1163 sq. m.
Pop. 569,461;
87 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 873,491
= £58,233.]
~Muzaffargarh~ is with the exception of Kángra the biggest Panjáb
district. It forms a large triangle with its apex in the south at the
junction of the Indus and Panjnad. On the west the Indus forms the
boundary for 180 miles. On the east Muzaffargarh has a river boundary
with Baháwalpur and Multán, but, where it marches with Jhang, is
separated from it by the area which that district possesses in the Sind
Ságar Doáb. There are four _tahsíls_, Leia, Sinánwan, Muzaffargarh, and
Alipur, the first being equal in area to a moderately sized district.
The greater part of Leia and Sinánwan is occupied by the Thal. The
southern tongue of the Thal extends into the Muzaffargarh _tahsíl_. The
rest of that district is a heavily inundated or irrigated tract, the
part above flood level being easily reached by inundation canals. Dry
cultivation is impossible with a yearly rainfall of about six inches.
The chief crop is wheat. In the south of the district the people live in
frail grass huts, and when the floods are out transfer themselves and
their scanty belongings to wooden platforms.
[Illustration: Fig. 114.]
[Sidenote: Area, 5325 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1723 sq. m.
Pop. 499,860;
88 p.c. M.
Land Rev.
Rs. 542,473
= £36,165.]
~Dera Ghází Khán district.~--When the N. W. Frontier Province was
separated from the Panjáb, the older province retained all the
trans-Indus country in which Biluches were the predominant tribe. The
Panjáb therefore kept Dera Ghází Khán. It has a river frontage on the
Indus about 230 miles in length and on the west is bounded by the
Sulimán Range, part of which is included within the district. The Deputy
Commissioner of Dera Ghází Khán and the Commissioner of Multán spend
part of the hot weather at Fort Munro. The wide Indus valley is known as
the Sindh. The tract between it and the Hills is the Pachádh. It is
seamed by hill torrents, three of which, the Vehoa, the Sangarh, and the
Kahá, have a thread of water even in the cold season. The heat in summer
is extreme, and the _luh_, a moving current of hot air, claims its human
victims from time to time. The cultivation in the Sindh depends on the
river floods and inundation canals, helped by wells. In the Pachádh dams
are built to divert the water of the torrents into embanked fields. The
cultivated area is recorded as 1723 square miles, but this is enormously
in excess of the cropped areas, for a very large part of the embanked
area is often unsown. The encroachments of the Indus have enforced the
transfer of the district headquarters from Dera Ghází Khán to a new town
at Choratta. Biluches are the dominant tribe both in numbers and
political importance. They with few exceptions belong to one or other of
the eight organized clans or tumans, Kasránis, Sorí Lunds, Khosas,
Laghárís, Tibbí Lunds, Gurchánís, Drishaks, and Mazárís. The most
important clans are Mazárís, Laghárís, and Gurchánís. Care has been
taken to uphold the authority of the chiefs. The Deputy Commissioner is
political officer for such of the independent Biluch tribes across the
administrative frontier as are not included in the Biluchistán Agency.
Regular troops have all been removed from the district. The peace of the
borderland is maintained by a tribal militia under the command of a
British officer.
[Illustration: Fig. 115.]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 8: Some estates lying to the east of the Jamna and belonging
to the United Provinces have recently been added to the enclave.]
[Footnote 9: H. = Hindu, M. = Muhammadan, S. = Sikh.]
[Footnote 10: Not shown in map.]
[Footnote 11: See page 169.]
[Footnote 12: This leading tribe in the Panjáb is known as Ját in the
Hindi-speaking Eastern districts and as Jat elsewhere.]
[Footnote 13: Ch.=Christian.]
[Footnote 14: There is a project for improving the water-supply of
inundation canals in the west of the district by building a weir across
the Chenáb below its junction with the Jhelam.]
CHAPTER XXVI
THE PANJÁB NATIVE STATES
1. _The Phulkian States_
[Sidenote: Area, 7599 sq. m.
Pop. 1,928,724.
Rev.
Rs. 118,00,000
= £786,666.]
~Phulkian States.~--The three Phulkian States of Patiála, Jínd, and
Nábha form a political agency under the Panjáb Government. They occupy,
with Baháwalpur and Hissár, the bulk of that great wedge of light loam
and sand which Rájputána, physically considered, pushes northwards
almost to the Sutlej. In the Phulkian States this consists of two
tracts, the Powádh and the Jangal Des. The former, which occupies the
north and north-east of their territory, possesses a light fertile loam
soil and a very moderate natural water level, so that well irrigation is
easy. The Jangal Des is a great tract of sandy loam and sand in the
south-west. Water lies too deep for the profitable working of wells, but
the harvests are far less insecure than one would suppose looking to the
scantiness of the rainfall. The soil is wonderfully cool and
drought-resisting. The dry cultivation consists of millets in the
Autumn, and of gram and mixed crops of wheat or barley and gram in the
Spring, harvest. The three states have rather more than a one-third
share in the Sirhind Canal, their shares _inter se_ being Patiála 83·6,
Nábha 8·8, and Jínd 7·6. Portions of the Powádh and Jangal Des are
irrigated. In the case of the Powádh there has been in some places over
irrigation considering how near the surface the water table is. The
Nirwána _tahsíl_ in Patiála and the part of Jínd which lies between
Karnál and Rohtak is a bit of the Bángar tract of the south-eastern
Panjáb, with a strong loam soil and a naturally deep water level. The
former receives irrigation from the Sirsa, and the latter from the
Hánsi, branch of the Western Jamna Canal. The outlying tracts to the
south of Rohtak and Gurgáon, acquired after the Mutiny, are part of the
dry sandy Rájputána desert, in which the _Kharíf_ is the chief harvest,
and the millets and gram the principal crops. In addition Patiála has an
area of 294 square miles of territory immediately below and in the Simla
Hills. The territory of the Phulkian States is scattered and intermixed,
and they have islands in British districts and _vice versa_, a natural
result of their historic origin and development.
[Illustration: Fig. 116. Mahárája of Patiála.]
Phul was the sixth in descent from Baryám, a Sidhu Ját, to whom Bábar
gave the _Chaudhráyat_ of the wild territory to the south-west of Delhi,
making him in effect a Lord of the Marches.
_Tree showing relationship of the three Houses_.
Phul
|
+-------+-------------+
Tiloka Ráma
+------+------+ |
Gurditta Sukhchen Raja Ála Singh
| | of Patiála
| |
Suratya Raja Gajpat Singh
| of Jínd
|
Raja Hamír Singh
of Nábha
The century and more which elapsed between the grant and Phul's death in
1652 were filled with continual fighting with the Bhattís. Phul's second
son Ráma obtained from the Governor of Sírhind the _Chaudhráyat_ of the
Jangal Des. When Ahmad Sháh defeated the Sikhs near Barnála in 1762,
Ráma's son, Ála Singh, was one of his prisoners. He was a chief of such
importance that his conqueror gave him the title of Rája and the right
to coin money. But Ála Singh found it prudent to join next year in the
capture of Sirhind. From the division of territory which followed the
separate existence of the Phulkian States begins. The manner in which
they came in 1809 under British protection has already been related. The
Rája of Patiála was our ally in the Gurkha War in 1814, and received the
Pinjaur _tahsíl_. The active loyalty displayed in 1857 was suitably
rewarded by accessions of territory. The right of adoption was
conferred, and special arrangements made to prevent lapse, if
nevertheless the line in any state failed.
[Sidenote: Area, 5412 sq. m.
Cultd area,
4515 sq. m.
Pop. 1,407,659;
40 p.c. H.
38 p.c. S.
22 p.c. M.
Rev.
Rs. 82,00,000
=£546,666.]
~Patiála~ occupies five-sevenths of the Phulkian inheritance The
predominant agricultural tribe is the Játs, over three-fourths of whom
are Sikhs. The cultivated area is four-fifths of the total area. Over
one-fourth of the former is irrigated, 27 p.c. from wells, and the rest
from the two canals. In an area extending with breaks from Simla to the
Rájputána desert the variations of agriculture are of course extreme.
The state is excellently served by railways.
~Nizámats.~--There are five _nizámats_ or districts, Pinjaur, Amargarh,
Karmgarh, Anáhadgarh, and Mohindargarh. Their united area is equivalent
to that of two ordinary British districts. The Pinjaur _nizámat_ with
headquarters at Rájpura covers only 825 square miles. Of its four
_tahsíls_ Pinjaur contains the submontane and hill tract, part of the
latter being quite close to Simla. The other three _tahsíls_ Rájpura,
Bannur, and Ghanaur are in the Powádh. The Amargarh _nizámat_ with an
area of 855 square miles comprises the three _tahsíls_ of Fatehgarh,
Sáhibgarh, and Amargarh. The first two are rich and fertile well tracts.
Amargarh is in the Jangal Des to the south-west of Sáhibgarh. It
receives irrigation from the Kotla branch of the Sirhind Canal. The
Karmgarh _nizámat_ with an area of 1835 square miles contains the four
_tahsíls_ of Patiála, Bhawánigarh, Sunám, and Nirwána. The headquarters
are at Bhawánigarh. The first three are partly in the Powádh, and partly
in the Jangal Des. Nirwána is in the Bángar. There is much irrigation
from the Sirhind and Western Jamna Canals. The Anáhadgarh _nizámat_ lies
wholly in the Jangal Des. It has an area of 1836 square miles, and is
divided into three _tahsíls_, Anáhadgarh, Bhikhi, and Govindgarh. The
headquarters are at Barnála or Anáhadgarh. The Mohindarpur _nizámat_
lies far away to the south on the borders of Jaipur and Alwar (see map
on page 226). Its area is only 576 miles and it has two _tahsíls_,
Mohindargarh or Kánaud and Narnaul. Kánaud is the headquarters.
The history down to 1763 has already been related. Rája Ála Singh died
in 1765 and was succeeded by his grandson Amar Singh (1765-1781), who
was occupied in continual warfare with his brother and his neighbours,
as became a Sikh chieftain of those days. His son, Sáhib Singh
(1781-1813), came under British protection in 1809. Karm Singh
(1813-1845), his successor, was our ally in the Gurkha War. Mahárája
Narindar Singh, K.C.S.I. (1845-1862), was a wise and brave man, who gave
manful and most important help in 1857. His son, Mahárája Mohindar Singh
(1862-1876), succeeded at the age of ten and died 14 years later. His
eldest son, Mahárája Rajindar Singh (1876-1900), was only four when he
succeeded and died at the age of 28. Another long minority, that of the
present Mahárája Bhupindar Singh, only came to an end a few years ago.
In the last fifty years Patiála has in consequence of three minorities
been governed, and as a rule successfully governed, for long periods by
Councils of Regency. The State in 1879 sent a contingent of 1100 men to
the Afghán War. It maintains an Imperial Service Force consisting of two
fine regiments of infantry and one of cavalry. Mahárája Rajindar Singh
went with one of these regiments to the Tirah Expedition.
[Sidenote: Area, 1259 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1172 sq. m.
Pop. 248,887;
78 p.c. H. and J.[15]
14 p.c. M.
8 p.c. S.
Rev.
Rs. 19,00,000
= £126,666.]
~Jínd.~--A third of the population of Jínd consists of Hindu and Sikh
Játs. There are two _nizámats_, Sangrúr and Jínd, the latter divided
into the _tahsíls_ of Jínd and Dádrí (map on page 226). The Sangrúr
villages are interspersed among those of the other Phulkian States, and
form a part of the Jangal Des. Jínd is in the Bángar, and Dádrí,
separated from Jínd by the Rohtak district, is partly in Hariána and
partly in the sandy Rájputána desert. The rainfall varies from 17 inches
at Sangrúr to ten inches at Dádrí. Sangrúr is irrigated by the Sirhind,
and Jínd by the Western Jamna, Canal. Dádrí is a dry sandy tract, in
which the Autumn millets are the chief crop. The revenue in 1911-12 was
19 _lákhs_ (£126,700). For imperial service Jínd keeps up a fine
battalion of infantry 600 strong. The real founder of the state was
Gajpat Singh, who was a chief of great vigour. He conquered Jínd and in
1774 deprived his relative, the chief of Nábha, of Sangrúr. He died in
1789. His successor, Rája Bhág Singh, was a good ally of the British
Government. He died after a long and successful career in 1819. His son,
Fateh Singh, only survived him by three years. Sangat Singh succeeded to
troublous times and died childless in 1834. His second cousin, Rája
Sarúp Singh, was only allowed to inherit the territory acquired by
Gajpat Singh, from whom he derived his claim. But the gallant and
valuable services rendered by Rája Sarúp Singh in 1857 enabled him to
enlarge his State by the grant of the Dádrí territory and of thirteen
villages near Sangrúr. He died in 1864. His son Raghubír Singh
(1864-1887) was a vigorous and successful ruler. He gave loyal help in
the Kúka outbreak and in the Second Afghán War. His grandson, the
present Mahárája Ranbir Singh, K.C.S.I., was only eight when he
succeeded, and Jínd was managed by a Council of Regency for a number of
years. Full powers were given to the chief in 1899.
[Illustration: Fig. 117. Mahárája of Jínd.]
[Sidenote: Area, 928 sq. m.
Cultd area,
806 sq. m.
Pop. 248,887;
51 p.c. H. and J.
31 p.c. S.
18 p.c. M.
Rev.
Rs. 17,00,000
= £113,300.]
~Nábha~ consists of twelve patches of territory in the north scattered
among the possessions of Patiála, Jínd, and Farídkot, and two other
patches in the extreme south on the border of Gurgáon. The northern
section of the state is divided into the eastern _nizámat_ of Amloh in
the Powádh and the western _nizámat_ of Phul in the Jangal Des. Both now
receive irrigation from the Sirhind Canal. The Báwal _nizámat_ is part
of the arid Rájputána desert. Játs, who are mostly Sikhs, constitute 30
p.c. of the population.
The State is well served by railways, Nábha itself being on the
Rájpura-Bhatinda line. The Mahárája maintains a battalion of infantry
for imperial service. Hamír Singh, one of the chiefs who joined in the
capture of Sirhind, may be considered the first Rája. He died in 1783
and was succeeded by his young son, Jaswant Singh. When he grew to
manhood Jaswant Singh proved a very capable chief and succeeded in
aggrandising his State, which he ruled for 57 years. His son, Deoindar
Singh (1840--47), was deposed, as he was considered to have failed to
support the British Government when the Khalsa army crossed the Sutlej
in 1845. A fourth of the Nábha territory was confiscated. Bharpur Singh,
who became chief in 1857, did excellent service at that critical time,
and the Báwal _nizámat_ was his reward. He was succeeded by his brother,
Bhagwán Singh, in 1863. With Bhagwán Singh the line died out in 1871,
but under the provisions of the _sanad_ granted after the Mutiny a
successor was selected from among the Badrúkhan chiefs in the person of
the late Mahárája Sir Hira Singh. No choice could have been more happy.
Hira Singh for 40 years ruled his State on old fashioned lines with much
success. Those who had the privilege of his friendship will not soon
forget the alert figure wasted latterly by disease, the gallant bearing,
or the obstinate will of a Sikh chieftain of a type now departed. His
son, Mahárája Ripudaman Singh, succeeded in 1911.
[Illustration: Fig. 118. Mahárája Sir
Hira Singh.]
2. _Other Sikh States_
[Sidenote: Area, 630 sq. m.
Cultd area,
424 sq. m.
Pop. 268,163.
Rev.
Rs. 14,00,000
= £93,333,
exclusive of
Rs. 13,00,000
= £86,666
derived from the
Oudh estates.]
~Kapúrthala.~--The main part consists of a strip of territory mostly in
the valley of the Biás, and interposed between that river and Jalandhar.
This is divided into the four _tahsíls_ of Bholath, Dhilwan, Kapúrthala,
and Sultánpur. There is a small island of territory in Hoshyárpur, and a
much larger one, the Phagwára _tahsíl_, projecting southwards from the
border of that district into Jalandhar. Two-thirds of the area is
cultivated and the proportion of high-class crops is large. The chief
agricultural tribes are the Muhammadan Arains and the Játs, most of whom
are Sikhs.
The real founder of the Kapúrthala house was Sardár Jassa Singh
Ahluwália, who in 1763, when Sirhind fell, was the leading Sikh chief in
the Panjáb. He captured Kapúrthala in 1771 and made it his headquarters,
and died in 1783. A distant relative, Bágh Singh, succeeded. His
successor, Fateh Singh, was a sworn brother of Ranjít Singh, with whom
he exchanged turbans. But an alliance between the weak and the strong is
not free from fears, and in 1826 Fateh Singh, who had large possessions
south of the Sutlej, fled thither and asked the protection of the
British Government. He returned however to Kapúrthala in 1827, and the
Mahárája never pushed matters with Fateh Singh to extremities. The
latter died in 1836. His successor, Nihál Singh, was a timid man, and
his failure to support the British in 1845 led to the loss of his
Cis-Sutlej estates. In 1849 he took the English side and was given the
title of Rája. Randhír Singh succeeded in 1852. His conspicuous services
in the Mutiny were rewarded with the grant of estates in Oudh. The
present Mahárája, Sir Jagatjít Singh Bahádur, G.C.S.I., is a grandson of
Randhír Singh. He was a young child when he succeeded in 1877. The State
maintains a battalion of infantry for imperial service.
[Illustration: Fig. 119. Mahárája Sir Jagatjít Singh Bahádur, G.C.S.I.]
[Sidenote: Area, 642 sq. m.
Pop. 130,925.
Rev.
Rs. 11,50,000
= £76,666.]
[Illustration: Fig. 120. Rája Brijindar Singh.]
~Farídkot~ is a small wedge of territory which almost
divides the Ferozepore district in two. The
population is composed of Sikhs 42-1/2, Hindus
and Jains 29, and Musalmans 28-1/2 p.c. Sikh
Játs are the strongest tribe. The country
is flat. In the west it is very sandy, but in the east
the soil is firmer and is
irrigated in part by the Sirhind
Canal. The Chief, like
the Phulkians, is a Sidhu
Barár Ját, and, though not
a descendant of Phul, unites
his line with the Phulkians
further back. The present
Rája, Brijindar Singh, is 17
years of age, and the State
is managed by a Council of
Regency.
[Sidenote: Area, 168 sq.m.
Pop. 55,915.
Rev.
Rs. 221,000
= £14,733.]
~Kalsia~ consists of a number of patches of territory in Ambála and an
enclave in Ferozepore known as Chirak. The founder of the State was one
of the Játs from the Panjáb, who swept over Ambála after the capture of
Sirhind in 1763, and carved out petty principalities, of which Kalsia is
the only survivor (page 180). The capital is Chachraulí, eight or nine
miles north-west of Jagádhrí. The present Chief, Sardár Ráví Sher Singh,
is a minor.
3. _The Muhammadan States_
[Sidenote: Area,
15,917 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1853 sq. m.
Pop. 780,641;
84 p.c. M.
Rev.
Rs. 35,00,000
= £233,333.]
~Baháwalpur~ is by far the largest of the Panjáb States. But the greater
part of it is at present desert, and the population, except in the river
tract, is very sparse. Baháwalpur stretches from Ferozepore on the north
to the Sindh border. It has a river frontage exceeding 300 miles on the
Sutlej, Panjnad, and Indus. The cultivated area in 1903-4 was 1451
square miles, and of this 83 p.c. was irrigated and 10 p.c. flooded. The
rainfall is only five inches and the climate is very hot. South and east
of the rivers is a tract of low land known as the "Sindh," which widens
out to the south. It is partly flooded and partly irrigated by
inundation canals with the help of wells. Palm groves are a conspicuous
feature in the Sindh. Behind it is a great stretch of strong loam or
"_pat_," narrow in the south, but widening out in the north. It is
bounded on the south-east by a wide depression known as the Hakra,
probably at one time the bed of the Sutlej. At present little
cultivation is possible in the _pat_, but there is some hope that a
canal taking out on the right bank of the Sutlej in Ferozepore may bring
the water of that river back to it. South of the Hakra is a huge tract
of sand and sand dunes, known as the Rohí or Cholistán, which is part of
the Rájputána desert. There are three _nizámats_, Minchinábád in the
north, Baháwalpur in the middle, and Khánpur in the south. The capital,
Baháwalpur, is close to the bridge at Adamwáhan by which the N.W.
Railway crosses the Sutlej. The ruling family belongs to the Abbásí
Dáudpotra clan, and came originally from Sindh. Sadik Muhammad Khán, who
received the title of Nawáb from Nádir Sháh, when he invaded the Deraját
in 1739, may be considered the real founder of the State. The Nawáb
Muhummad Baháwal Khan III, threatened with invasion by Mahárája Ranjít
Singh, made a treaty with the British Government in 1833. He was our
faithful ally in the first Afghán War, and gave valuable help against
Diwán Mulráj in 1848. The next three reigns extending from 1852 to 1866
were brief and troubled. Nawáb Sadik Muhummad Khán IV, who succeeded in
1866, was a young child, and for the next thirteen years the State was
managed by Captain Minchin and Captain L. H. Grey as Superintendents.
The young Nawáb was installed in 1879, and henceforth ruled with the
help of a Council. In the Afghán War of 1879-1880 Baháwalpur did very
useful service. The Nawáb died in 1899. A short minority followed during
which Colonel L. H. Grey again became Superintendent. The young Nawáb,
Muhammad Baháwal Khán V, had but a brief reign. He was succeeded by the
present Chief, Nawáb Sadik Muhummad Khán V, a child of eight or nine
years. The State is managed by a Council aided by the advice of the
political Agent. From 1903 to 1913, the Agent for the Phulkian States
was in charge, but a separate Agent has recently been appointed for
Baháwalpur and Farídkot. An efficient camel corps is maintained for
imperial service.
[Illustration: Fig. 121. Nawáb Sadik Muhammad Khán.]
[Sidenote: Area, 167 sq. m.
Pop. 71,144.
Rev.
Rs. 900,000
= £60,000.]
~Malerkotla~ consists of a strip of territory to the south of the
Ludhiána district. The capital is connected with Ludhiána by railway.
The Nawáb keeps up a company of Sappers and Miners for imperial service.
He is an Afghán, and his ancestor held a position of trust under the
Moghal Empire, and became independent on its decline. The independence
of his successor was menaced by Mahárája Ranjít Singh when Malerkotla
came under British protection in 1809.
~Pataudí, Dujána, and Loháru.~--The three little Muhammadan States of
Loháru, Dujána, and Pataudí are relics of the policy which in the
opening years of the nineteenth century sought rigorously to limit our
responsibilities to the west of the Jamna. Together they have an area of
275 square miles, a population of 59,987 persons, and a revenue of Rs.
269,500 (£18,000). The Chief of Loháru, Nawáb Amír ud dín Ahmad Khán,
K.C.I.E., is a man of distinction.
4. _Hindu Hill States_
[Sidenote: Area, 1200 sq. m.
pop. 181,110.
Rev.
Rs. 500,000
= £33,333.]
~Mandí~ is a tract of mountains and valleys drained by the Biás. With
Suket, with which for many generations it formed one kingdom, it is a
wedge thrust up from the Sutlej between Kángra and Kulu. Three-fifths of
the area is made up of forests and grazing lands. The _deodár_ and blue
pine forests on the Kulu border are valuable. At Guma and Drang an
impure salt, fit for cattle, is extracted from shallow cuttings. A
considerable part of the revenue is derived from the price and duty. The
chiefs are Chandarbánsí Rájputs. The direct line came to an end in 1912
with the death of Bhawání Sen, but to prevent lapse the British
Government has chosen as successor a distant relative, Jogindar Singh,
who is still a child.
[Illustration: Fig. 122.]
[Sidenote: Area, 420 sq. m.
Pop. 54,928.
Rev.
Rs. 200,000
= £13,333.]
~Suket~ lies between Mandí and the Sutlej. Its Rája, Ugar Sen, like his
distant relative, the Rája of Mandí, came under British protection in
1846. His great-grandson, Rája Bhim Sen, is the present chief.
[Sidenote: Area, 1198 sq. m.
Pop. 138,520.
Rev.
Rs. 600,000
= £40,000.]
[Illustration: Fig. 123. The late Rája Surindar Bikram Parkásh, K.C.S.I.,
of Sirmúr.]
~Sirmúr~ (~Náhan~) lies to the north of the Ambála district, and
occupies the greater part of the catchment area of the Girí, a tributary
of the Jamna. It is for the most part a mountain tract, the Chor to the
north of the Girí rising to a height of 11,982 feet. The capital, Náhan
(3207 feet), near the southern border is in the Siwálik range. In the
south-east of the State is the rich valley known as the Kiárda Dún,
reclaimed and colonized by Rája Shamshér Parkásh. There are valuable
_deodár_ and _sál_ forests. A good road connects Náhan with Barára on
the N.W. Railway. In 1815 the British Government having driven out the
Gurkhas put Fateh Parkásh on the throne of his ancestors. His troops
fought on the English side in the first Sikh War. His successors, Rája
Sir Shamsher Parkásh, G.C.S.I. (1856-98), and Rája Sir Surindar Bikram
Parkásh, K.C.S.I. (1898-1911), managed their State with conspicuous
success. The present Rája, Amar Parkásh, is 25 years of age. In the
second Afghán War in 1880, Sirmúr sent a contingent to the frontier, and
the Sappers and Miners, which it keeps up for imperial service,
accompanied the Tirah Expedition of 1897.
[Sidenote: Area, 3216 sq. m.
Pop. 135,989.
Rev. 4 _lákhs_
= £26,700.]
~Chamba~ lies to the N. of Kángra from which it is divided by the
Dhauladhár (map, p. 284). The southern and northern parts of the State
are occupied respectively by the basins of the Ráví and the Chandrabhágá
or Chenáb. Chamba is a region of lofty mountains with some fertile
valleys in the south and west. Only about one-nineteenth of the area is
cultivated. The snowy range of the Mid-Himálaya separates the Ráví
valley from that of the Chandrabhágá, and the great Zánskár chain with
its outliers occupies the territory beyond the Chenáb, where the
rainfall is extremely small and Tibetan conditions prevail. The State
contains fine forests and excellent sport is to be got in its mountains.
There are five _wazárats_ or districts, Brahmaur or Barmaur, Chamba,
Bhattoyat, Chaura, and Pángí.
The authentic history of this Súrajbansí Rajput principality goes back
to the seventh century. It came into the British sphere in 1846. During
part of the reign of Rája Shám Singh (1873-1904), the present Rája, Sir
Bhure Singh, K.C.S.I., C.I.E., administered the State as Wazír, filling
a difficult position with loyalty and honour. He is a Rájput gentleman
of the best type. The Rája owns the land of the State, but the people
have a permanent tenant right in cultivated land.
[Illustration: Fig. 124. Rája Sir Bhure Singh, K.C.S.I., C.I.E.]
~Simla Hill States.~--The Deputy Commissioner of Simla is political
officer with the title of Superintendent of nineteen, or, including the
tributaries of Bashahr, Keonthal, and Jubbal, of 28 states with a total
area of 6355 square miles, a population of 410,453, and revenues
amounting to a little over ten _lákhs_ (£66,000). The States vary in
size from the patch of four square miles ruled by the Thákur of Bija to
the 388r square miles included in Bashahr. Only four other States have
areas exceeding 125 square miles, namely, Biláspur (448), Keonthal
(359), Jubbal (320), and Hindúr or Nalagarh (256). Excluding feudatories
the revenues vary from Rs. 900 (or a little over £1 a week) in Mangal to
Rs. 190,000 (£12,666) in Biláspur. The chiefs are all Rájputs, who came
under our protection at the close of the Gurkha War.
The watershed of the Sutlej and Jamna runs through the tract. The range
which forms the watershed of the Sutlej and the Jamna starts from the
Shinka Pass on the south border of Bashahr and passes over Hattu and
Simla. In Bashahr it divides the catchment areas of the Rupín and Pábar
rivers, tributaries of the Tons and therefore of the Jamna, from those
of the Báspa and the Noglí, which are affluents of the Sutlej. West of
Bashahr the chief tributary of the Jamna is the Girí and of the Sutlej
the Gámbhar, which rises near Kasaulí. In the east Bashahr has a large
area north of the Sutlej drained by its tributary the Spití and smaller
streams. In the centre the Sutlej is the northern boundary of the Simla
Hill States. In the west Biláspur extends across that river. The east of
Bashahr is entirely in the Sutlej basin.
[Sidenote: Area, 448 sq. m.
Pop. 93,107.
Rev. Rs. 190,000
= £12,666.]
~Biláspur.~--This is true also of Biláspur or Kahlúr (map, p. 284),
which has territory on both banks of the river. The capital, Biláspur,
is on the left bank only 1455 feet above sea level. The present Rája
Bije Chand, C.S.I., succeeded in 1889.
[Sidenote: Area, 3881 sq. m.
Pop. 93,203.
Rev. Rs. 95,000
= £6233.]
~Bashahr.~--The chain which forms the watershed of the Sutlej and Jamna
rises from about 12,000 feet at Hattu in the west to nearly 20,000 feet
on the Tibet border. Two peaks in the chain exceed 20,000 feet. Further
north Raldang to the east of Chíní is 21,250 feet high, and in the
north-east on the Tibet border there are two giants about 1000 feet
higher. Generally speaking the Sutlej runs in a deep gorge but at Chíní
and Saráhan the valley widens out. The main valley of the Pábar is not
so narrow as that of the Sutlej, while the side valleys descend in easy
slopes to the river beds. The Báspa has a course of 35 miles. In the
last ten miles it falls 2000 feet and is hemmed in by steep mountains.
Above this gorge the Báspa valley is four or five miles wide and
consists of a succession of plateaux rising one above the other from the
river's banks. Bashahr is divided into two parts, Bashahr proper and
Kunáwar. The latter occupies the Sutlej valley in the north-east of the
State. It covers an area of about 1730 square miles and is very sparsely
peopled. In the north of Kunáwar the predominant racial type is
Mongoloid and the religion is Buddhism. The capital of Bashahr, Rámpur,
on the left bank of the Sutlej is at an elevation of 3300 feet. The
Gurkhas never succeeded in conquering Kunáwar. They occupied Bashahr,
but in 1815 the British Government restored the authority of the Rája.
The present chief, Shamsher Singh, is an old man, who succeeded as long
ago as 1850. He is incapable of managing the State and an English
officer is at present in charge.
[Illustration: Fig. 125. Bashahr.]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 15: J.=Jain.]
CHAPTER XXVII
THE NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE
1. _Districts_
~The Province.~--The N. W. F. Province consists of five British
districts, Dera Ismail Khán, Bannu, Kohát, Pesháwar, and Hazára with a
total area of 13,193 square miles, of which rather less than one-third
is cultivated. Of the cultivated area 70 p.c. depends solely on the
rainfall. In addition the Chief Commissioner as Agent to the Governor
General controls beyond the administrative boundary territory occupied
by independent tribes, which covers approximately an area of 25,500
square miles. In 1911 the population of British districts was 2,196,933
and that of tribal territory is estimated to exceed 1,600,000. In the
districts 93 persons in every hundred profess the creed of Islam and
over 38 p.c. are Patháns.
[Sidenote: Area, 3780 sq. m.
Cultd area,
851 sq. m.
Pop. 256,120.
Land Rev.
Rs. 306,240
= £20,416.]
~Dera Ismail Khán~ lies to the north of Dera Gházi Khán and is very
similar to it in its physical features. It is divided into the three
_tahsíls_ of Tánk, Dera Ismail Khán, and Kuláchi. It has a long river
frontage on the west, and is bounded on the east by the Sulimán Range.
The Kachchhí of Dera Ismail Khán corresponds to the Sindh of Dera Gházi
Khán, but is much narrower and is not served by inundation canals,
except in the extreme north, where the Pahárpur Canal has recently been
dug. It depends on floods and wells. The Dáman or "Skirt" of the hills
is like the Pachádh of Dera Ghází Khán a broad expanse of strong clayey
loam or _pat_ seamed by torrents and cultivated by means of dams and
embanked fields. The climate is intensely hot in summer, and the average
rainfall only amounts to ten inches. Between one-fourth and one-fifth of
the area is cultivated. The Pachádh is a camel-breeding tract.
[Illustration: Fig. 126. Sir Harold Deane.]
[Illustration: Fig. 127. NORTH-WEST FRONTIER-PROVINCE]
[Illustration: Fig. 128. Map of Dera Ismail Khán with trans-border
territory of Largha Sheránis and Ustaránas.]
Patháns predominate in the Dáman and Jats in the Kachchhí. The
Bhittannís in the north of the district are an interesting little tribe.
The hill section lies outside our administrative border, but like the
Lárgha Sheránís in the south are under the political control of the
Deputy Commissioner. A good metalled road, on which there is a _tonga_
service, runs northwards from Dera Ismail Khán to Bannu.
[Sidenote: Area, 1641 sq. m.
Cultd area,
818 sq. m.
Pop. 250,086.
Land Rev.
Rs. 304,004
= £20,267.]
[Illustration: Fig. 129.]
~Bannu.~--The small Bannu district occupies a basin surrounded by hills
and drained by the Kurram and its affluent, the Tochí. It is cut off
from the Indus by the Isakhel _tahsíl_ of Mianwálí and by a horn of the
Dera Ismail Khán district. Bannu is now connected with Kálabágh in
Mianwálí by a narrow gauge railway. An extension of this line from Laki
to Tánk in the Dera Ismail Khán district has been sanctioned. There are
two _tahsíls_, Bannu and Marwat. The cultivated area is about one-half
of the total area. About 30 p.c. of the cultivation is protected by
irrigation from small canals taking out of the streams. Most of the
irrigation is in the Bannu _tahsíl_. The greater part of Marwat is a dry
sandy tract yielding in favourable seasons large crops of gram. But the
harvests on unirrigated land are precarious, for the annual rainfall is
only about 12 inches. The irrigated land in Bannu is heavily manured and
is often double-cropped. Wheat accounts for nearly half of the whole
crops of the district. The Marwats are a frank manly race of good
physique. The Bannúchís are hard-working, but centuries of plodding toil
on a wet soil has spoiled their bodily development, and had its share in
imparting to their character qualities the reverse of admirable. The
Deputy Commissioner has also political charge of some 17,884 tribesmen
living across the border. There are good metalled roads to Dera Ismail
Khán and Kohát, and also one on the Tochí route.
[Sidenote: Area, 2973 sq. m.
Cultd area,
512 sq. m.
Pop. 222,690.
Land Rev.
Rs. 275,462
= £18,364.]
~Kohát~ is a large district, but most of it is unfit for tillage and
only one-sixth is actually cultivated. The chief crops are wheat, 44,
and _bájra_, 26 p.c. The district stretches east and west for 100 miles
from Khushálgarh on the Indus to Thal at the mouth of the Kurram valley.
The two places are now connected by a railway which passes through the
district headquarters at Kohát close to the northern border. There are
three _tahsíls_, Kohát, Hangu, and Terí, the last a wild tract of bare
hills and ravines occupying the south of the district and covering more
than half its area. Two small streams, the Kohát Toi and the Terí Toi,
drain into the Indus. The rainfall is fair, but very capricious. The
cold weather lasts long and the chill winds that blow during part of it
are very trying. The chief tribes are the Bangash Patháns of Hangu and
the Khattak Patháns of Terí. The Khán of Terí is head of the Khattaks, a
manly race which sends many soldiers to our army. He enjoys the revenue
of the _tahsíl_ subject to a quit rent of Rs. 20,000.
~Hangu~ contains in Upper and Lower Miranzai the most fertile land in
the district, but the culturable area of the _tahsíl_ is small and only
one-tenth of it is under the plough. Perennial streams run through the
Miranzai valleys, and the neighbouring hills support large flocks of
sheep and goats. Kohát contains a number of salt quarries, the most
important being at Bahádur Khel near the Bannu border. The Thal
subdivision consisting of the Hangu _tahsíl_ is in charge of an
Assistant Commissioner who manages our political relations with
transfrontier tribes living west of Fort Lockhart on the Samána Range.
The Deputy Commissioner is in direct charge of the Pass Afrídís and the
Jowákís and Orakzais in the neighbourhood of Kohát. He and his Assistant
between them look after our relations with 144,000 trans-border Patháns.
The Samána Rifles, one of the useful irregular corps which keep the
peace of the Borderland, have their headquarters at Hangu.
[Illustration: Fig. 130.]
[Illustration: Fig. 131.]
[Sidenote: Area, 2611 sq. m.
Cultd area,
1398 sq. m.
Pop. 865,000
Land Rev
Rs. 11,37,504
= £75,834.]
~Pesháwar~ is a large basin encircled by hills. The gorge of the Indus
separates it from Attock and Hazára. The basin is drained by the Kábul
river, whose chief affluents in Pesháwar are the Swát and the Bára. The
district is divided into the five _tahsíls_ of Pesháwar, Charsadda,
Naushahra, Mardán, and Swábí. The last two form the Mardán subdivision.
Nearly 40 p.c. of the cultivation is protected by irrigation mainly from
canals large and small. The most important are the Lower Swát, the Kábul
River, and the Bára River, Canals. The irrigated area will soon be much
increased by the opening of the Upper Swát Canal. The cold weather
climate is on the whole pleasant, though too severe in December and
January. The three months from August to October are a very unhealthy
time. The soil except in the stony lands near the hills is a fertile
loam. The cold weather rainfall is good, and the Spring harvest is by
far the more important of the two. Wheat is the chief crop. Half of the
people are Patháns, the rest are known generically as Hindkís. The
principal Hindkí tribe is that of the Awáns. Besides managing his own
people the Deputy Commissioner has to supervise our relations with
240,000 independent tribesmen across the border. The Assistant
Commissioner at Mardán, where the Corps of Guides is stationed, is in
charge of our dealings with the men of Buner and the Yúsafzai border.
The N.W. Railway runs past the city of Pesháwar to Jamrúd, and there is
a branch line from Naushahra to Dargai at the foot of the Malakand Pass.
[Sidenote: Area, 2858 sq. m.
Cultd area,
673 sq. m.
Pop. 603,028.
Land Rev.
Rs. 512,897
= £34,193.]
[Illustration: Fig. 132.]
~Hazára~ is a typical montane and submontane district with a copious
rainfall and a good climate. It has every kind of cultivation from
narrow terraced _kalsí_ fields built laboriously up steep mountain
slopes to very rich lands watered by canal cuts from the Dor or Haro.
Hazára is divided into three _tahsíls_, Haripur, Abbottábád, and
Mansehra. Between a fourth and a fifth of this area is culturable and
cultivated. In this crowded district the words are synonymous. The above
figure does not include the 204 square miles of Feudal Tanáwal. The
rainfall is copious and the crops generally speaking secure. The
principal are maize 42 and wheat 25 p.c. Hazára was part of the
territory made over to Rája Guláb Singh in 1846, but he handed it back
in exchange for some districts near Jammu. The maintenance of British
authority in Hazára in face of great odds by the Deputy Commissioner,
Captain James Abbott, during the Second Sikh War is a bright page in
Panjáb history, honourable alike to himself and his faithful local
allies. The population is as mixed as the soils. Patháns are numerous,
but they are split up into small tribes. The Swátís of Mansehra are the
most important section. After Patháns Gújars and Awáns are the chief
tribes. The Gakkhars, though few in number, hold much land and a
dominant position in the Khánpur tract on the Ráwalpindí border. The
Deputy Commissioner is also responsible for our relations with 98,000
trans-border tribesmen. The district is a wedge interposed between
Kashmír on the east and Pesháwar and the tribal territory north of
Pesháwar on the west. The Indus becomes the border about eight miles to
the north of Amb, and the district consists mainly of the areas drained
by its tributaries the Unhár, Siran, Dor, and Haro. On the eastern side
the Jhelam is the boundary with Kashmir from Kohála to a point below
Domel, where the Kunhár meets it. Thence the Kunhár is the boundary to
near Garhí Habíbullah. To the south of Garhí the watershed of the Kunhár
and Jhelam is close to these rivers and the country is very rough and
poor. West of Garhí it is represented by the chain which separates the
Kunhár and Siran Valleys and ends on the frontier at Musa ká Musalla
(13,378 feet). This chain includes one peak over 17,000 feet, Málí ká
Parvat, which is the highest in the district. The Kunhár rises at the
top of the Kágan Glen, where it has a course of about 100 miles to
Bálakot. Here the glen ends, for the fall between Bálakot and Garhí
Habíbullah is comparatively small. There is a good mule road from Garhí
Habíbullah to the Bábusar Pass at the top of the Kágan Glen, and beyond
it to Chilás. There are rest-houses, some very small, at each stage from
Bálakot to Chilás. The Kágan is a beautiful mountain glen. At places the
narrow road looks sheer down on the river hundreds of feet below,
rushing through a narrow gorge with the logs from the _deodár_ forests
tossing on the surface, and the sensation, it must be confessed, is not
wholly pleasant. But again it passes close to some quiet pretty stretch
of this same Kunhár. There are side glens, one of which opposite Naran
contains the beautiful Safarmulk Lake. Near the top of the main glen the
Lulusar Lake at a height of 11,167 feet and with an average depth of 150
feet is passed on the left. In the lower part of the glen much maize is
grown. As one ascends almost the last crop to be seen is a coarse barley
sown in June and reaped in August. Where the trees and the crops end the
rich grass pastures begin. Kágan covers between one-third and
one-fourth of the whole district. The Siran flows through the beautiful
Bhogarmang Glen, at the foot of which it receives from the west the
drainage of the Konsh Glen. Forcing its way through the rough Tanáwal
hills, it leaves Feudal Tanáwal and Badhnak on its right, and finally
after its junction with the Dor flows round the north of the Gandgarh
Range and joins the Indus below Torbela. The bare Gandgarh Hills run
south from Torbela parallel with the Indus. The Dor rises in the hills
to the south of Abbottábád and drains the Haripur plain. A range of
rough hills divides the Dor valley from that of the Haro, which again is
separated from Ráwalpindí by the Khánpur Range. To the west of the Siran
the Unhár flows through Agror and Feudal Tanáwal, and joins the Indus a
little above Amb. Irrigation cuts are taken from all these streams, and
the irrigated cultivation is often of a very high character. The best
cultivation of the district is in the Haripur plain and the much smaller
Orash and Pakhlí plains and in the Haro valley. There is much
unirrigated cultivation in the first, and it is generally secure except
in the dry tract in the south-west traversed by the new railway from
Sarai Kála. The little Orash plain below Abbottábád is famous for its
maize and the Pakhlí plain for its rice.
Feudal Tanáwal is a very rough hilly country between the Siran on the
east and the Black Mountain and the river Indus on the west. It is the
appanage of the Kháns of Amb and Phulra.
North of Feudal Tanáwal is Agror. In 1891 the rights of the last Khán
were declared forfeit for abetment of raids by trans-bordermen.
There are fine forests in Hazára, but unfortunately the _deodár_ is
confined to the Kágan Glen and the Upper Siran. Nathiagalí, the summer
headquarters of the Chief Commissioner, is in the Dungagalí Range. The
Serai Kála-Srínagar railway will run through Hazára. There is a good
mule road from Murree to Abbottábád through the Galís.
2. _Tribal Territory_
[Illustration: Fig. 133. Sir George Roos Keppel.]
Feudal Tanáwal mentioned above occupies the southern corner of the tract
of independent tribal territory lying between the Hazára border and the
Indus. North of Tanáwal on the left bank of the river a long narrow
chain known as the Black Mountain rises in its highest peaks to a height
of nearly 10,000 feet. The western slopes are occupied by Hasanzais,
Akazais, and Chagarzais, who are Patháns belonging to the great
Yúsafzai clan, and these three sections also own lands on the right bank
of the Indus. They have been very troublesome neighbours to the British
Government. The eastern slopes of the Black Mountain are occupied by
Saiyyids and Swátís, and the latter also hold the glens lying further
north, the chief of which is Allai.
[Illustration: Fig. 134.]
The mountainous tract on the Pesháwar border lying to the west of
Tanáwal and the territory of the Black Mountain tribes formed part of
the ancient Udyána, and its archaeological remains are of much interest.
It is drained by the Barandu, a tributary of the Indus. Its people are
mainly Yúsafzai Patháns, the principal section being the Bunerwáls.
These last bear a good character for honesty and courage, but are slaves
to the teachings of their _mullas_. The Yúsafzais have been bad
neighbours. The origin of the trouble is of old standing, dating back to
the welcome given by the tribesmen in 1824 to a band of Hindústání
fanatics, whose leader was Saiyyid Ahmad Sháh of Bareilly. Their
headquarters, first at Sitána and afterwards at Malka, became Caves of
Adullam for political refugees and escaped criminals, and their
favourite pastime was the kidnapping of Hindu shopkeepers. In 1863 a
strong punitive expedition under Sir Neville Chamberlain suffered heavy
losses before it succeeded in occupying the Ambela Pass. The door being
forced the Yúsafzais themselves destroyed Malka as a pledge of their
submission. Our political relations with the Yúsafzais are managed by
the Assistant Commissioner at Mardán.
The rest of the tribal territory between the Pesháwar district and the
Hindu Kush is included in the Dír, Swát, and Chitrál political agency.
It is a region of mountains and valleys drained by the Swát, Panjkora,
and Chitrál or Yárkhun rivers, all three affluents of the Kábul river.
Six tracts are included in the Agency.
(_a_) ~Swát.~--A railway now runs from Naushahra in the Pesháwar district
to Dargai, which lies at the foot of the Malakand, a little beyond our
administrative boundary. An old Buddhist road crosses the pass and
descends on the far side into Swát. We have a military post at Chakdarra
on the Swát river, and a military road passing through Dír connects
Chakdarra with Kila Drosh in Chitrál. Most of the Swátís, who are
Yúsafzais of the Akozai section, occupy a rich valley above 70 miles in
length watered by the Swát river above its junction with the Panjkora.
Rice is extensively grown, and a malarious environment has affected the
physique and the character of the people. The Swátí is priest-ridden and
treacherous. Even his courage has been denied, probably unjustly. Swátí
fanaticism has been a source of much trouble on the Pesháwar border. The
last serious outbreak was in 1897, when a determined, but unsuccessful,
attack was made on our posts at Chakdarra and the Malakand Pass. The
Swátís are Yúsafzai Patháns of the Akozai clan, and are divided into
five sections, one of which is known as Ránízai.
(_b_) ~Sam Ránízai.~--A small tract between the Pesháwar border and the
hills is occupied by the Sam Ránízais, who were formerly servants and
tenants of the Ránízais, but are now independent.
(_c_) ~Utmán Khel.~--The country of the Utmán Khels begins where the
Pesháwar boundary turns to the south. This tribe occupies the tract on
both sides of the Swát river to the west of Swát and Sam Ránízai. On the
south-west the Swát river divides the Utmán Khels from the Mohmands.
Their country is very barren, but a good many of them cultivate land in
the Pesháwar district. The Utmán Khels are quite independent of the
surrounding tribes and have been troublesome neighbours to ourselves.
(_d_) ~Bajaur.~--Bajaur is a very mountainous tract lying to the
north-west of the Utmán Khel country and between it and the Durand line.
It includes four valleys, through which flow the Rud river and its
affluents with the exception of that known as Jandol. The valley of the
last is now included in Dír. The Rud, also known as the Bajaur, is a
tributary of the Panjkora. The people consist mainly of Mamunds and
other sections of the Tarkanrí clan, which is related to the Yúsafzais.
They own a very nominal allegiance to the Khán of Nawagai, who is
recognised as the hereditary head of the Tarkanrís. They manage their
affairs in quasi-republican fashion through a council consisting of the
particular party which for the time being has got the upper hand.
(_e_) ~Dír.~--Dír is the mountainous country drained by the Panjkora and
its tributaries, to the north of its junction with the Rud river in
Bajaur. It is separated from Chitrál by the Uchiri Range, which forms
the watershed of the Panjkora and Kunar rivers. The military road to
Kila Drosh crosses this chain by the Lowari Pass at a height of 10,200
feet. The people of Dír are mostly Yúsafzais, relations of the Swátís,
whom they much resemble in character. They pay one-tenth of their
produce to their overlord, the Khán of Dír, when he is strong enough to
take it. The higher parts of the country have a good climate and contain
fine _deodár_ forests. The Khán derives much of his income from the
export of timber, which is floated down the Panjkora and Swát rivers.
(_f_) ~Chitrál.~--The Pathán country ends at the Lowari Pass. Beyond,
right up to the main axis of the Hindu Kush, is Chitrál. It comprises
the basin of the Yárkhun or Chitrál river from its distant source in the
Shawar Shur glacier to Arnawai, where it receives from the west the
waters of the Bashgul, and is thenceforth known as the Kunar. Its
western boundary is the Durand line, which follows a lofty chain
sometimes called the Káfiristán range. Another great spur of the Hindu
Kush known as the Shandur range divides Chitrál on the east from the
basin of the Yasín river and the territories included in the Gilgit
Agency (see Chapter XXVIII). Chitrál is a fine country with a few
fertile valleys, good forests below 11,000 feet, and splendid, if
desolate, mountains in the higher ranges. The Chitrálís are a quiet
pleasure-loving people, fond of children and of dancing, hawking, and
polo. They are no cowards and no fanatics, but have little regard for
truth or good faith. The common language is Khowár (see page 112). The
chief, known as the Mehtar, has his headquarters at Chitrál, a large
village on the river of the same name. It is dominated at a distance by
the great snow peak of Tirach Mír (see page 22). The British garrison is
stationed at Kila Drosh on the river bank about halfway between Chitrál
and the Lowari Pass[16].
[Illustration: Fig. 135.]
~Mohmands and Mallagorís.~--South of the Utmán Khel country and north of
the Khaibar are the rugged and barren hills held by that part of the
Mohmand tribe which lives inside the Durand line. The clan can muster
about 20,000 fighting men and is as convenient a neighbour as a nest of
hornets. The southern edge of the tract, where it abuts on the Khaibar,
is held by the little Mallagorí tribe, which is independent of the
Mohmands. Their country is important strategically because a route
passes through it by which the Khaibar can be outflanked. It is included
in the charge of the Political Agent for the Khaibar.
~Afrídís.~--The pass and the tract lying to the south of it including the
Bazár valley and part of Tirah are the home of the six sections of the
Pass Afrídís, the most important being the Zakha Khel, whose winter home
is in the Khaibar and the Bazár valley, a barren glen hemmed in by
barren hills, the entrance to which is not far from Ali Masjid. Its
elevation is 3000 to 4000 feet. The valleys in Tirah proper, where the
Pass Afrídís for the most part spend the summer, are two or three
thousand feet higher. When the snow melts there is excellent pasturage.
The climate is pleasant in summer, but bitterly cold in winter. The Bára
river with its affluents drains the glens of Tirah. The Aka Khel
Afrídís, who have no share in the Pass allowances, own a good dear of
land in the lower Bára valley and winter in the adjoining hills. The
fighting strength of the above seven sections may be put at 21,000. When
they have been able to unite they have shown themselves formidable
enemies, for they are a strong and manly race, and they inhabit a very
difficult country[17]. But the Afrídí clan is torn by dissensions. Blood
feuds divide house from house, and the sections are constantly at feud
one with another. Apart from other causes of quarrel there is the
standing division into two great factions, Gar and Samil, which prevails
among Afrídís and Orakzais. Afrídís enlist freely in our regiments and
in the Khaibar Rifles, and have proved themselves excellent soldiers.
The eighth section of the Afrídís, the Adam Khel, who hold the Kohát
Pass and the adjoining hills, have very little connection with the rest
of the clan. The Jowákís, against whom an expedition had to be sent in
the cold weather of 1877-78, are a sub-section of the Adam Khel.
[Illustration: Fig. 136. Khaibar Rifles.]
~Orakzais, Chamkannís, and Zaimukhts.~--The Orakzais, who in numbers are
even stronger than the Pass and Aka Khel Afrídís, occupy the south of
Tirah, the Samáná Range on the border of Kohát, and the valley of the
Khánkí river. The tribal territory extends westwards as far as the
Khurmana, a tributary of the Kurram. The Orakzais do some trade and Sikh
_banias_ and artizans are to be found in some of their villages. The
clan is honey-combed with feuds. North-west of the Orakzais beyond the
Khurmana are the Chamkannís, and on the south is a small tribe of
vigorous mountaineers called Zaimukhts. One of these Zaimukhts, Sarwar
Khán, nicknamed Chikai, was a notorious frontier robber, and a person of
considerable importance on the border till his death in 1903.
~The Kurram Valley.~--The Kurram Valley, which is drained by the Kurram
river and its affluents, lies to the south of the lofty Safed Koh range,
and reaches from Thal in Kohát to the Peiwar Kotal on the borders of
Afghán Khost. It has an area of nearly 1300 square miles and in 1911 the
population was estimated at 60,941 souls. Though under British
administration, it does not form a part of any British district. The
people are Patháns of various clans, the predominant element being the
Turís, who are Shias by religion and probably of Turkish origin. It was
at their request that the valley was annexed in 1892. The political
agent has his headquarters at Parachinár in Upper Kurram, which is
divided from Lower Kurram by a spur of the Khost hills, through which
the river has cut a passage. Such part of the Indian penal law as is
suitable has been introduced, and civil rights are governed by the
customary law of the Turís. A complete record of rights in land and
water has been framed, and the land revenue demand is 88,000 rupees
(£5889). Upper Kurram is a wide and fertile valley set in a frame of
pine-clad hills. It is not fully cultivated, but has great
possibilities, especially in the matter of fruit growing. The snowfall
is heavy in winter, but the summer climate is excellent. Lower Kurram is
a poor and narrow glen unpleasantly hot and cold according to the season
of the year. Parachinár is connected with the railhead at Thal by a
good _tonga_ road.
~Wazíristán.~--The country of the Darwesh Khel and Mahsud Wazírs extends
from the Kurram valley to the Gomal river. It is divided into the North
Wazíristán (2300 square miles) and the South Wazíristán (2700 square
miles) Agencies. North Wazíristán consists of four valleys and some
barren plateaux. The principal valley is that of Daur (700 square miles)
drained by the Tochí. In 1894 the Dauris sought refuge from Darwesh Khel
inroads by asking for British administration. In the eyes of the Darwesh
Khel they are a race of clodhoppers. Their sole virtue consists in
patient spade industry in the stiff rich soil of their valley, their
vices are gross, and their fanaticism is extreme. The political agent's
headquarters are at Miram Shah. South Wazíristán is the home of the
troublesome Mahsuds, who can muster 11,000 fighting men. But parts of
the country, e.g. the Wána plain, are held by the Darwesh Khel. Much of
South Wazíristán consists of bare hills and valleys and stony plains
scored with torrents, which are dry most of the year. The streams are
salt. Part of the hinterland is however a more inviting tract with
grassy uplands and hills clad with oak, pine, and _deodár_. Wána, where
the political agent has his headquarters, was occupied on the invitation
of the Darwesh Khel in 1894.
~Sheránís.~--The Sherání country stretches along the Dera Ismail Khán
border from the Gomal to the Vihoa torrent. The Lárgha or lower part has
been under direct administration since 1899, the Upper part belongs to
the Biluchistán Agency.
~Tribal Militias.~--In the greater part of India beyond the border there
is no British administration. Respect for our authority and the peace of
the roads are upheld, and raiding on British territory is restrained,
by irregular forces raised from among the tribesmen. There are Hunza and
Nagar levies, Chitrál and Dír levies, Khaibar Rifles, Samána Rifles, and
Kurram, North Wazíristán, and South Wazíristán militias.
[Illustration: Fig. 137. North Wazíristán Militia and Border Post.]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 16: For recent history see page 196.]
[Footnote 17: See page 196.]
CHAPTER XXVIII
KASHMÍR AND JAMMU
~Kashmír.~--Some account has already been given of the topography and
scenery of the wide territory, covering an area about equal to that of
the Panjáb less the Ambála division, ruled by the Mahárája of Kashmír
and Jammu. The population, races, languages, and religions have been
referred to in Chapters IX and X.
~Modern history.~--Some mention has been made of the early history of
Kashmír (pages 165, 166, 172, 173). Even the hard Sikh rule was a relief
to a country which had felt the tyranny of the Durání governors who
succeeded the Moghals. Under the latter small kingships had survived in
the Jammu hills, but the Jammuwál Rajas met at Ranjít Singh's hands the
same fate as the Kángra Rájas. Three cadets of the Jammu royal house,
the brothers Dhián Singh, Suchet Singh, and Guláb Singh, were great men
at his court. In 1820 he made the last Rája of Jammu. Guláb Singh was a
man fit for large designs. In 20 years he had made himself master of
Bhadráwah, Kishtwár, Ladákh, and Báltistán, and held the casket which
enclosed the jewel of Kashmír. He acquired the jewel itself for 75 lakhs
by treaty with the British at the close of the first Sikh war.
Excluding a large but little-known and almost uninhabited tract beyond
the Muztagh and Karakoram mountains, the drainage of which is northwards
into Central Asia, the country consists of the valleys of the Chenáb,
Jhelam, and Indus, that of the last amounting to three-fourths of the
whole. There is a trifling area to the west of Jammu, which contains the
head-waters of small streams which find their way into the Ráví.
[Illustration: Fig. 138. Mahárája of Kashmír.]
[Illustration: Fig. 139. Sketch Map of Chenáb and Jhelam Valleys (Jammu
and Kashmír).]
~Divisions.~--The following broad divisions may be recognised:
1. Chenáb Valley (_a_) Plain and Kandí or Low Hills.
(_b_) Uplands of Kishtwár and Bhadráwah.
2. Jhelam Valley (_a_) Vale of Kashmír with adjoining glens and hills.
(_b_) Gorge below Báramúla and Kishnganga Valley.
3. Indus Valley (_a_) Ladákh including Zánskar and Rupshu.
(_b_) Báltistán.
(_c_) Astor and Gilgit.
~Chenáb Valley.~--(_a_) _Plain and Kandí._ This tract extends from Mírpur
on the Jhelam to Kathua near the Ráví and close to the head-works of the
Upper Bárí Doáb Canal at Mádhopur. It is coterminous with the Panjáb
districts of Jhelam, Gujrát, Siálkot, and Gurdáspur, and comprises four
of the five districts of the Jammu Province, Mírpur, Riásí, Jammu, and
Jasrota, and a part of the fifth, Udhampur. The plain is moist and
unhealthy. The rough country behind with a stony and thirsty red soil
covered in its natural state with _garna_ (Carissa spinarum), _sanatan_
(Dodonaea viscosa), and _bhekar_ (Adhatoda vasica) does not suffer in
this respect. The chief crops of the Kandí are wheat, barley, and rape
in the spring, and maize and _bájra_ in the autumn, harvest. Behind the
Kandí is a higher and better tract, including Naoshera, with wide
valleys, in which maize replaces _bájra_.
(_b_) _Uplands._ The greater part of the Upper Chenáb Valley is occupied
by Kishtwár and _Jagír_ Bhadráwah. The rainfall is heavy and there is
copious irrigation from _kuhls_ (page 142), but elevation and rapid
drainage make the climate healthy. In the upper parts snow and cold
winds sometimes prevent the ripening of the crops. The poppy is grown in
Kishtwár and Bhadráwah. Kishtwár is a part of the Udhampur district.
~Jhelam Valley.~--(_a_) _Vale of Kashmír with adjoining glens and
mountains._ This first division of the Jhelam Valley extends from the
source above Vernág to Báramúla, and embraces not only the Vale of
Kashmír, over 80 miles long and from 20 to 25 miles in breadth, but the
glens which drain into it and the mountains that surround it. It
therefore includes cultivation of all sorts from rich irrigated rice
fields to narrow plots terraced up mountain slopes on which buckwheat
and the beardless Tibetan barley are grown. The administrative divisions
are the _wazárat_ or district of South Kashmir and the southern part of
North Kashmír. The central valley has an elevation of 6000 feet. It was
undoubtedly once a lake bed. Shelving fan-shaped "_karewas_" spread out
into it from the bases of the hills. The object of the Kashmírí is to
raise as much rice as he possibly can on the alluvium of his valley and
on the rich soil deposited on the banks of mountain streams. Manure and
facilities for irrigation exist in abundance, and full use is made of
them in the cultivation of the favourite crop. _Kangní_ takes the place
of rice in many fields if there is any deficiency of water. On reclaimed
swamps near the Jhelam heavy crops of maize are raised. The tillage for
wheat and barley is as careless as that for rice is careful. The
cultivation of saffron (Crocus sativus) on _karewas_ is famous, but the
area is now limited, as the starving people ate up the bulbs in the
great famine of 1877 and recovery is slow. Saffron is used as a pigment
for the sectarian marks on the forehead of the orthodox Hindu and also
as a condiment. The little floating vegetable gardens on the Dal lake
are a very curious feature. The "_demb_" lands on the borders of the
same lake are a rich field for the market gardener's art. He fences a
bit of land with willows, and deposits on it weeds and mud from the lake
bed. He is of the boatman or Hanz caste, whose reputation is by no means
high, and can himself convey by water his vegetables and fruits to the
Srínagar market. The production of fruit in Kashmír is very large, and
the extension of the railway to Srínagar should lead to much improvement
in the quality and in the extent of the trade. It may also improve the
prospects of sericulture.
[Illustration: Fig. 140. Takht i Sulimán in Winter.]
(_b_) _Jhelam Gorge and Valley of Kishnganga._ The Jhelam gorge below
Báramúla is narrow and the cultivation is usually terraced. The
Kishnganga joins the Jhelam near Muzaffarábád. The Muzaffarábád district
includes the Jhelam gorge and the lower part of the valley of the
Kishnganga. The upper part is in the Uttarmachhipura _tahsíl_ of the
district of North Kashmír.
~Indus Valley.~--(_a_) _Ladákh including Zánskar and Rupshu._ Some
description of Ladákh and its scenery has already been given in Chapter
II. It may be divided into Rupshu, Zánskar, and Ladákh proper with Leh
as its centre. Rupshu in the south-east is a country of great brackish
lakes in no part less than 13,500 feet above sea level. At such a height
cultivation must be very difficult, but a little beardless Tibetan
barley is raised. The scanty population consists mainly of nomad
shepherds. In Ladákh the people are divided into shepherds or
_champas_, who roam over the Alpine pastures, and Ladákhís, who till
laboriously every available patch of culturable land in the river
valleys. Though both are Buddhists they rarely intermarry. Zánskar to
the N.W. of Rupshu is drained by the river of the same name, which flows
northwards to join the Indus below Leh. It forms part of the Kargil
_tahsíl_. Zánskar is a bleak inaccessible region where the people and
cattle remain indoors for six months of the year. Its breed of ponies is
famous. In Ladákh proper cultivation ranges from 9000 to 15,000 feet.
The sandy soil must be manured and irrigated, and is often refreshed by
top-dressings of fresh earth from the hill sides. The crops are wheat
and barley, rape, lucerne, peas and beans, in spring, and buckwheat,
millets, and turnips, in autumn. There is a great lack of wood for
building and for fuel, and the deficiency in the latter case has to be
supplied by cow-dung cakes. Notwithstanding their hard life the people
are cheerful and fairly well off, for polyandry has prevented
overcrowding.
[Illustration: Fig. 141. Ladákh Hills.]
(_b_) _Báltistán._ In Báltistán, which lies to the N.W. of Ladákh, they
are Muhammadans and there is much more pressure on the soil. They are a
cheery race and very fond of polo. To support their families the men
have to work as carriers on the roads to Leh and Gilgit. They tend the
cattle in the pastures, keep the irrigation channels and the walls of
the terraced fields in repair, and do the ploughing. The rest of the
work of cultivation is left to the women. The climate is very severe and
most of the rivers are frozen in winter. On the other hand near the
Indus on the Skardo plain (7250 feet) and in the Rondu gorge further
west, the heat is intense in July and August. The dreary treeless stony
Deosai Plains on the road to Kashmír have an elevation of 13,000 feet.
The cultivation and crops are much the same as in Ladákh. Excellent
fruit is grown, and there is a considerable export of apricots. Gold
washing is carried on with profit.
Ladákh and Báltistán together form the Ladákh _wazárat_, divided into
the three _tahsíls_ of Ladákh, Kargil, and Skardo.
(_c_) _Astor and Gilgit._--Where the Gilgit road from Kashmír descends
from the Burzil pass (13,500 feet) the country of Astor is reached. It
is drained by the Astor river, which joins the Indus to the south of
Bunjí. The bridge which crosses it at Ramghát is only 3800 feet above
sea level. The village of Astor itself is at a height of 7853 feet. The
cultivation is of the same description as that in Báltistán. The aspect
of the country is bleak till the Indus is crossed, and Gilgit (4890
feet) is reached. Here there is a fertile well-watered oasis from which
on every side great mountain peaks are visible. The lands are heavily
manured. Rice, maize, millet, buckwheat, cotton, wheat, barley, rape,
and lucerne are grown. There is a second and easier road to Gilgit
from India over the Bábusar pass at the top of the Kágan Glen in Hazára.
But the posts are sent by the Kashmír road. The Astorís and Gilgitís are
a simple easy-going folk, and, like the Báltís, very fond of polo. A
British Political Agent is stationed at Gilgit. He is responsible to the
Government of India for the administration of Hunza, Nagar, and Yasín,
and of the little republics in the neighbourhood of Chilás. Hunza and
Nagar lie to the north of Gilgit near the junction of the Muztagh and
Hindu Kush ranges, and Yasín far to the west about the upper waters of
the Gilgit river.
[Illustration: Fig. 142. Zojilá Pass (page 12).]
In Astor and Gilgit also Guláb Singh's Dogras replaced the Sikh troops.
But across the Indus Guláb Singh was never strong, and after 1852 that
river was his boundary. He died in 1857, having proved himself a hard
and unscrupulous, but a capable and successful ruler. His son, Randhír
Singh, was a better man, but a worse king. A good Hindu, tolerant, and a
friend of learning, he had not the force of character to control the
corrupt official class, and the people suffered much in consequence. He
was a loyal ally in the Mutiny. In 1860 his forces recovered Gilgit, a
conquest which for years after was a fruitful source of suffering to his
Cis-Indus subjects. The present Mahárája, Sir Pratáp Singh, G.C.S.I.,
succeeded in 1885. While he lived his brother, Rája Amar Singh, played a
very important part in Kashmír affairs. From 1887 to 1905 the
administration was managed by a small council, of which after 1891 the
Mahárája was President and Rája Amar Singh Vice-President. It was
abolished in 1905. There are now under the Mahárája a chief minister and
ministers in charge of the home and revenue departments. Judicial
business is controlled by the Judge of the High Court. Death sentences
must be confirmed by the Mahárája. The highest executive officers are
the governors of Jammu and Kashmír, and the _Wazírs Wazárat_ of Ladákh
and Gilgit. In Jammu and Kashmír each of the eight districts is in
charge of a _Wazír Wazárat_. In connection with the land revenue
settlement, forests, etc., the services of British officers have been
lent to the State. The Government of India is represented at Srínagar by
a Resident, and a political agent at Gilgit exercises a general
supervision over the _Wazír Wazárat_.
During the reign of the present Mahárája great reforms have been
effected. The construction of the Gilgit road has done away with the
blood tax, which the conveyance of supplies to that remote post formerly
involved. The land revenue settlement has largely substituted cash for
kind payments and done away with many abuses. Official corruption and
oppression have been scotched, but would speedily revive if vigilance
were relaxed. The different peoples ruled by the Mahárája are easily
governed if properly treated, and violent crime is rare.
* * * * *
_Note._ In the map appended to Dr Arthur Neve's _Thirty Years in
Kashmír_ the heights of Gasherbrum and Masherbrum (see page 21) are
given respectively as 26,360 and 25,560 feet, and that of Hidden Peak,
S.E. of Gasherbrum, as 26,470 feet. These with _K2_ are the highest
mountains round the Baltoro Glacier. Further east is the Siachen, "the
greatest glacier in Asia," which feeds the Nubra river (page 36). N.E.
of the Siachen is the Teram Kangrí mountain, the height of which does
not probably exceed 25,000 feet. The actual height of the Nun Kun (page
12) is 23,447 feet. Dr Neve gives that of the Karakoram Pass as 18,110
feet, not 18,550 as stated on page 20.
CHAPTER XXIX
CITIES
~Delhi~ (28.38 N., 77.13 E.).--Of imperial cities the most interesting are
those which have felt the tragedies as well as enjoyed the glories of
Empire. From this point of view Delhi, notwithstanding its small extent
and modern foundation, may be grouped with Rome, Constantinople, and
Paris. In the matter of size it is in the same class as Edinburgh. The
present Delhi or Sháhjahánábád is a creation of the middle of the
seventeenth century, and the oldest of the Delhis in the neighbourhood
goes back only to the fourth century of our era. The latter endured for
six or seven centuries. It was the capital of the Tunwar and Chauhán
Rájas, and takes its second name of Rai Pithora's Kila' or Fort from the
last Hindu King of Delhi, the famous Prithví Rája. The early Muhammadan
kings occupied it and adorned it with splendid buildings. Firoz Sháh
Tughlak's city of Firozábád occupied part of the present Delhi and the
country lying immediately to the south of it. The other so-called towns
Sirí, Tughlakábád, and Indarpat or Puráná Kila' (Old Fort) were
fortified royal residences round which other dwelling-houses and shops
sprang up.
The visitor to Delhi will be repaid if he can devote a week to the City
and the neighbourhood. It is impossible here to give any adequate
account of the objects of historic and architectural interest. No
visitor should be without Mr H. C. Fanshawe's _Delhi Past and Present_,
a work of great interest. The value of the text is enhanced by good maps
and excellent illustrations. In the Civil Station, which lies to the
north of the City and east of the Ridge, is Ludlow Castle, from the roof
of which General Wilson and his Staff watched the assault on 14th
September, 1857, when Delhi was retaken. Ludlow Castle is now the Delhi
Club. Between it and the northern rampart of the City, a defence against
the Mahrattas built by British officers fifty years earlier, grim
fighting took place on that historic day when the little British and
Indian force, till then rather besieged than besiegers, was at last
strong enough to attack. Here are the sites of the four batteries which
breached that rampart, and here is the grave of John Nicholson and the
statue recently erected in his honour (page 190). The Ridge to which the
little army had clung obstinately from May to September in scorching
heat and drenching rain, undismayed by repeated assaults and the ravages
of cholera, starts about half-a-mile to the west of the Morí bastion, at
the north-west corner of the city wall, and runs north by east to
Wazírábád on an old bed of the Jamna. Ascending to the Flagstaff Tower
one looks down to-day on the Circuit House and the site of the principal
camps at the great _darbár_ of 1911. Here was the old Cantonment and its
parade ground, on which the main encampment of the British force stood
in 1857. The position was strong, being defended by the ridge on the
east and the Najafgarh Canal on the west. It is open to the south, where
are the Savzí Mandí (Vegetable Market), now the site of factories, and
the Roshanára Gardens. It was on this side that the mutineers made their
most dangerous attacks. The road along the Ridge from the Flagstaff
Tower passes the Chauburjí Mosque and Hindu Rao's house, which was the
principal target of the City batteries and was gallantly held by Major
Reid with his Sirmur Gurkhas, the Guides, and the 60th Rifles. Beyond
Hindu Rao's house is one of the stone pillars of Asoka, which Firoz
Sháh Tughlak transported to Delhi. Still further south is the Mutiny
Memorial. As one reads the tale of the losses of the different regiments
one realizes in some measure the horrors and the heroism of which the
Ridge was witness.
[Illustration: Fig. 143. Delhi Mutiny Monument.
'In memory of the officers and soldiers, British and native, of the
Delhi Field Force who were killed in action or died of wounds or disease
between the 30th May and 20th September 1857.'
'This monument has been erected by the comrades who lament their loss
and by the Govmt: they served so well.']
~The City.~--When visiting the City from the Civil Lines it is well to
follow the road, which passing the Kudsia Gardens leads straight to the
Kashmír Gate, one of two places in India (the Lucknow Residency is the
other) which must stir with grateful pride the heart of the most
phlegmatic of Englishmen. The road from the Gate to the Fort and the
Jama Masjid is rich in memories of the Mutiny. It has on its left S.
James' Church, with memorial tablets within and outside the shot-riddled
globe which once surmounted its dome. Further on are the obelisk to the
telegraph officers who stuck to their posts on the fatal 11th of May,
and on a gateway of the Old Magazine a record of the heroism of the nine
devoted men, who blew it up, losing five of their number in the
explosion. Passing under the railway bridge one comes out on the open
space in front of Sháhjahán's palace fort, which was finished about 1648
A.D. To the beautiful buildings erected by his father Aurangzeb added
the little Motí Masjid or Pearl Mosque. But he never lived at Delhi
after 1682. The palace is therefore associated with the tragedies and
squalor of the decline and fall of the Moghal Empire rather than with
its glories. In 1739 it was robbed of the Kohinur and the Peacock throne
by Nádir Shah, in 1788 it saw the descendants of Akbar tortured and the
aged Emperor blinded by the hateful Ghulám Kádir, and on 16th May, 1857
the mutineers massacred fifty Christians captive within its walls. When
viewing the public and private halls of audience, known as the Diwán i
'Ám and the Diwán i Kháss, it is however natural to think rather of
scenes of splendour such as Bernier described when Aurangzeb sat in
royal apparel on the Peacock throne with a king's ransom in the aigrette
of his turban and the rope of pearls which hung from his neck. On such
an occasion, the pillars of the Diwán i 'Ám were hung with gold brocades
and the floors covered with rich silken carpets. Half the court outside
was occupied by a magnificent tent and the arcade galleries surrounding
it were decked with brocades and covered with costly carpets. The marble
Diwán i Kháss with its lovely pillars decorated with gold and precious
stones is surely the most splendid withdrawing room that a monarch ever
possessed. There is nothing in the Moorish palace at Granada which can
for a moment be compared with these two halls. For a description of them
and of the other buildings in the Fort the reader must refer to Mr
Fanshawe's book. In the Viceroyalty of Lord Curzon and since much has
been done to restore their surroundings to some semblance of their
former state. But the heavy British barracks occupied by the little
garrison are very incongruous with the remains of Moghal grandeur.
Leaving the Fort by the Southern or Delhi Gate and turning to the right
one is faced by the Jama Masjid, another monument of the taste of
Sháhjahán. The gateway and the lofty ascent into this House of God are
very fine. The mosque in the regular beauty and grandeur of its lines,
appealing to the sublimity rather than to the mystery of religion, is a
fitting symbol of the faith for whose service it was raised. South of
the Jama Masjid in a part of the city once included in Firozábád stands
the Kalán or Kála Masjid with low cupolas and heavy square black
pillars, a striking example of the sombre architecture of the Tughlak
period. A narrow street called the Daríba leads from the Jama Masjid to
the wide Chándní (Silver) Chauk. The Daríba was formerly closed by the
Khúní Darwáza or Gate of Blood, so called because here occurred that
terrible massacre of the citizens of Delhi which Nádir Shah witnessed
from the neighbouring Golden Mosque. Besides its width there is nothing
remarkable about the Chándní Chauk. But the visitor in quest of silver
work, jewellery, or embroidery will find there many shopkeepers ready to
cater for his wants. It was while passing down the Chándní Chauk in an
elephant procession on 23rd December, 1912, that Lord Hardinge was
wounded by a bomb thrown from one of the houses. From the Chauk one may
pass through the Queen's Gardens and Road to the opening in the wall
where the Kábul Gate once stood and so leave the City. A tablet in the
vicinity marks the spot where John Nicholson fell.
[Illustration: Fig. 144. Kashmír Gate.]
[Illustration: Fig. 145. Map of Delhi City.]
When visiting the old Delhis it is a good plan to drive again through
the City and to leave it by the Delhi Gate. Humáyun's tomb, an early and
simple, but striking, specimen of Moghal architecture, is reached at a
distance of four miles along the Mathra road. Outside the City the road
first leaves on the left side the ruined citadel of Firoz Sháh
containing the second Asoka pillar. North and south of this citadel
the town of Firozábád once lay. It ended where the Puráná Kila' or Old
Fort, the work of Sher Sháh and Humáyun, now stands, a conspicuous
object from the road about three miles from Delhi. The red sandstone
gateway very narrow in proportion to its height is a noble structure,
and within the walls is Sher Sháh's mosque. The fort and mosque are the
last important works of the second or Tughlak period. Hindus call the
site of the Old Fort, Indarpat. If any part of Delhi has a claim to
antiquity it is this, for it is alleged to be one of the five "pats" or
towns over which the war celebrated in the Mahábhárata was waged. A
recent cleaning of part of the interior of the fort brought to light
bricks belonging to the Gupta period. From Humáyun's tomb a cross road
leads to the Gurgáon road and the Kutb. But the visitor who has seen
enough of buildings for the day may proceed further down the Mathra road
and reach the headworks of the Agra Canal at Okhla by a side road. The
view looking back to Delhi up the Jamna is fine.
~The Kutb Minár.~--Starting for the Kutb from Humáyun's tomb (page 207)
the Dargáh of the great Chistí saint and political intriguer, Nizám ud
dín Aulia, is passed on the left. He died in 1324 A.D. Just at the point
where the cross road meets the Gurgáon road is the tomb of Safdar Jang,
the second of the Nawáb Wazírs of Oudh. He died after the middle of the
eighteenth century, and the building is wonderfully good considering
that it is one of the latest important monuments of the Moghal period.
Six miles to the south of Safdar Jang's tomb the entrance to the Kutb
Minár enclosure is reached. The great Kuwwat ul Islám mosque of
Kutbuddín Aibak (page 204) was constructed out of the materials of a
Jain temple which stood on the site. Evidence of this is to be found in
the imperfectly defaced sculptures on the pillars. An iron pillar nearly
24 feet in height dating back probably to the sixth century stands in
the court. The splendid column known as the Kutb Minár (page 205), begun
by Kutbuddín and completed by his successor Shams ud dín Altamsh, was
the minaret of the mosque from which the _mu'azzin_ called the faithful
to prayer. The disappointment that may be felt when it is seen from a
distance is impossible on a nearer view. Its height is now 238 feet, but
it was formerly surmounted "by a majestic cupola of red granite." Close
by is the Alai Darwaza, a magnificent gateway built by Alá ud dín
Tughlak in 1310, about 90 years after the Minár was finished. Five miles
east of the Kutb are the cyclopean ruins of Tughlakábád (page 206).
~Delhi past and present.~--The Delhi of Aurangzeb was as much a camp as a
city. When the Emperor moved to Agra or Kashmír the town was emptied of
a large part of its inhabitants. It contained one or two fine _bazárs_,
and nobles and rich merchants and shopkeepers had good houses, set
sometimes in pleasant gardens. But the crowds of servants and followers
occupied mud huts, whose thatched roofs led to frequent and widespread
fires. In that insanitary age these may have been blessings in disguise.
"In Delhi," wrote Bernier, "there is no middle state. A man must either
be of the highest rank or live miserably.... For two or three who wear
decent apparel there may always be reckoned seven or eight poor, ragged,
and miserable beings." The ordinary street architecture of modern Delhi
is mean enough, and posterity will not open an eyelid to look at the
public buildings which its present rulers have erected in the city. But
at least the common folk of Delhi are better housed, fed, and clad than
ever before. It is now a clean well-managed town with a good water
supply, and it has become an important railway centre and a thriving
place of trade. Since 1881 the population has steadily increased from
173,393 to 232,837 in 1911. In 1911-12 the imports into Delhi City from
places outside the Panjáb amounted to 9,172,302 maunds. There are some
fifteen cotton ginning, spinning, and weaving mills, besides flour
mills, iron foundries, two biscuit manufactories, and a brewery. The
city is well supplied with hospitals including two for women only.
Higher education has been fostered by S. Stephen's College in charge of
the Cambridge Missionary brotherhood. The Hindu college has not been
very successful. Delhi has had famous "hakíms," practising the Yúnáni or
Arabic system of medicine, which is taught in a flourishing school known
as the Madrasa i Tibbiya.
~Imperial Darbárs.~--In this generation the plain to the north of the
Ridge has been the scene of three splendid _darbárs_. When on 1st
January, 1877, Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India
(_Kaisar i Hind_) it seemed fitting that the proclamation of the fact to
the princes and peoples of India should be made by Lord Lytton at the
old seat of imperial power. On 1st January, 1903, Lord Curzon held a
_darbár_ on the same spot to proclaim the coronation of King Edward the
VIIth. Both these splendid ceremonies were surpassed by the _darbár_ of
12th December, 1911, when King George and Queen Mary were present in
person, and the Emperor received the homage of the ruling chiefs, the
great officials, and the leading men of the different provinces. The
King and Queen entered Delhi on 7th December, and in the week that
followed the craving of the Indian peoples for "_darshan_" or a sight
of their sovereign was abundantly gratified. None who saw the spectacles
of that historic week will ever forget them.
[Illustration: Fig. 146. Darbár Medal.]
New Imperial Capital.--The turn of Fortune's Wheel has again made Delhi
an imperial city. The transfer of the seat of government from Calcutta
announced by the King Emperor at the _darbár_, is now being carried out.
The site will probably extend from Safdar Jang's tomb to a point lying
to the west of Firoz Sháh's citadel.
~Lahore~ (31.34 N., 74.21 E.). The capital of the Panjáb lies on the east
bank of the Ráví, which once flowed close to the Fort, but has moved a
mile or two to the west. In high floods the waters still spread over the
lowlands between the Ráví and the Fort. Lahore lies nearly halfway
between Delhi and Pesháwar, being nearer to the latter than to the
former.
~Early History.~--Practically we know nothing of its history till Mahmúd
conquered the Panjáb and put a garrison in a fort at Lahore. Henceforth
its history was intimately connected with Muhammadan rule in India.
Whether north-western India was ruled from Ghazní or from Delhi, the
chief provincial governor had his headquarters at Lahore. In the best
days of Moghal rule Agra and Lahore were the two capitals of the
Empire. Lahore lay on the route to Kábul and Kashmír, and it was
essential both to the power and to the pleasures of the Emperors that it
should be strongly held and united to Delhi and Agra by a Royal or
_Bádsháhí_ Road. The City and the Suburbs in the reign of Sháhjahán
probably covered three or four times the area occupied by the town in
the days of Sikh rule. All round the city are evidences of its former
greatness in ruined walls and domes.
~The Civil Station.~--The Anárkalí gardens and the buildings near them
mark the site of the first Civil Station. John Lawrence's house, now
owned by the Rája of Punch, is beyond the Chauburjí on the Multán Road.
The Civil Lines have stretched far to the south-east in the direction of
the Cantonment, which till lately took its name from the tomb of Mian
Mír, Jahangír's spiritual master. The soil is poor and arid. Formerly
the roads were lined with dusty tamarisks. But of late better trees have
been planted, and the Mall is now quite a fine thoroughfare. The
Lawrence Hall Gardens and the grounds of Government House show what can
be done to produce beauty out of a bad soil when there is no lack of
water. There is little to praise in the architecture or statuary of
modern Lahore. The marble canopy over Queen Victoria's statue is however
a good piece of work. Of the two cathedrals the Roman Catholic is the
better building. The Montgomery Hall with the smaller Lawrence Hall
attached, a fine structure in a good position in the public gardens, is
the centre of European social life in Lahore. Government House is close
by, on the opposite side of the Mall. Its core, now a unique and
beautiful dining-room with domed roof and modern oriental decoration, is
the tomb of Muhammad Kásim Khán, a cousin of Akbar. Jamadár Khushál
Singh, a well-known man in Ranjít Singh's reign, built a house round the
tomb. After annexation, Henry Lawrence occupied it for a time, and Sir
Robert Montgomery adopted it as Government House. It is now much
transformed. Beyond Government House on the road to the Cantonment are
the Club and the Panjáb Chiefs' College, the only successful attempt in
Lahore to adapt oriental design to modern conditions.
[Illustration: Fig. 147. Street in Lahore.]
~The Indian City.~--In its streets and _bazárs_ Lahore is a truly eastern
city, and far more interesting than Delhi, so far as private buildings
are concerned. In public edifices it possesses some fine examples of
Moghal architecture. Every visitor should drive through the town to the
Fort past Wazír Khán's mosque. Under British rule the height of the city
wall has been reduced by one-half and the moat filled in and converted
into a garden. Wazír Khán's mosque founded in 1634 by a Panjábí
minister of Sháhjahán, is a noble building profusely adorned with glazed
tiles and painted panels. The Golden Mosque was constructed 120 years
later about the same time as Safdar Jang's tomb at Delhi. The palace
fort, built originally by Akbar, contains also the work of his three
successors. The Shísh Mahal or Hall of Mirrors, which witnessed the
cession of the Panjáb to the Queen of England, was begun by Sháhjahán
and finished by Aurangzeb. The armoury contains a curious collection of
weapons. The Bádsháhí Mosque opposite with its beautiful marble domes
and four lofty minarets of red sandstone was founded in 1673 in the
reign of Aurangzeb. The cupolas were so shaken by an earthquake in 1840
that they had to be removed. Mahárája Ranjít Singh used the mosque as a
magazine. In the space between it and the Fort he laid out the pretty
orange garden known as the Huzúrí Bágh and set in it the marble
_báradarí_ which still adorns it. Close by are his own tomb and that of
Arjan Dás, the fifth Guru.
~Buildings outside Lahore.~--The best example of Moghal architecture is
not at Lahore itself, but at Shahdara across the Ráví. Here in a fine
garden is the Mausoleum of Jahángír with its noble front and four
splendid towers. It enshrines an exquisite sarcophagus, which was
probably once in accordance with the Emperor's wish open to the sunlight
and the showers. Near by are the remains of the tombs of his beautiful
and imperious consort, Nur Jahán, and of her brother Asaf Khán, father
of the lady of the Táj. Another building associated with Jahángír is
Anárkali's tomb beside the Civil Secretariat. The white marble
sarcophagus is a beautiful piece of work placed now in most
inappropriate surroundings. The tomb was reared by the Emperor to
commemorate the unhappy object of his youthful love. Half-a-mile off on
the Multán road is the Chauburjí, once the gateway of the Garden of
Zebunnissa a learned daughter of Aurangzeb. The garden has disappeared,
but the gateway, decorated with blue and green tiles, though partially
ruined, is still a beautiful object. On the other side of Lahore on the
road to Amritsar are the Shalimár Gardens laid out by Sháhjahán for the
ladies of his court. When the paved channels are full and the fountains
are playing, and the lights of earthen lamps are reflected in the water,
Shalimár is still a pleasant resort.
[Illustration: Fig. 148. Sháhdara.]
The Museum in Anárkalí contains much of interest to Indians and
Europeans. The "house of wonders" is very popular with the former. It
includes a very valuable collection of Buddhist sculptures. Opposite the
museum is the famous Zamzama gun (page 187).
~Growth of Lahore.~ As the headquarters of an important Government and of
a great railway system Lahore has prospered. Owing to the influx of
workers the population has risen rapidly from 157,287 in 1881 to 228,687
in 1911. The railway alone affords support to 30,000 people, of whom
8000 are employed in the workshops.
~Amritsar~ (31.38 N., 74.53 E.) is a modern town founded in the last
quarter of the sixteenth century by the fourth Guru, Rám Dás, on a site
granted to him by Akbar. Here he dug the Amrita Saras or Pool of
Immortality, leaving a small platform in the middle as the site of that
Har Mandar, which rebuilt is to-day, under the name of the Darbár Sáhib,
the centre of Sikh devotion. The fifth Guru, Arjan Dás, completed the
Har Mandar. Early in the eighteenth century Amritsar became without any
rival the Mecca of the Sikhs, who had now assumed an attitude of warlike
resistance to their Muhammadan rulers. Once and again they were driven
out, but after the victory at Sirhind in 1763 they established
themselves securely in Amritsar, and rebuilt the temple which Ahmad Sháh
had burned. Ranjít Singh covered the Darbár Sáhib with a copper gilt
roof, whence Englishmen commonly call it the Golden Temple. He laid out
the Rám Bágh, still a beautiful garden, and constructed the strong fort
of Govindgarh outside the walls.
~Trade and Manufactures.~--Amritsar lies in a hollow close to a branch of
the Upper Bárí Doáb Canal. Waterlogging is a great evil and accounts for
the terrible epidemics of fever, which have occurred from time to time.
The population has fluctuated violently, and at the last census was
152,756, or little larger than in 1881. Long before annexation the shawl
industry was famous. The caprice of fashion a good many years ago
decreed its ruin, but carpet weaving, for which Amritsar is still
famous, fortunately did something to fill the gap. Amritsar has also
been an entrepôt of trade with other Asiatic countries. It has imported
raw silk from Bokhára, and later from China, and woven it into cloth. It
has dealt in China tea, but that is a decreasing trade, in opium from
Afghánistán, and in _charas_ from Central Asia. There is a considerable
export of foreign piece goods to Kashmír and the N. W. F. Province.
~Multán~ (30.1 N., 71.3 E.), though now the smallest of the four great
towns of the Panjáb, is probably the most ancient. It is very doubtful
whether it is the fortress of the Malloi, in storming which Alexander
was wounded. But when Hiuen Tsang visited it in 741 A.D. it was a
well-known place with a famous temple of the Sun God. Muhammad Kásim
conquered it in 712 A.D. (page 166). It was not till the savage
Karmatian heretics seized Multán towards the end of the tenth century
that the temple, which stood in the fort, was destroyed. It was
afterwards rebuilt, but was finally demolished by order of Aurangzeb,
who set up in its place a mosque. Under the Moghals Multán was an
important town, through which the trade with Persia passed. Its later
history has already been noticed (pages 183 and 186).
~The Fort~ contains the celebrated Prahládpurí temple, much damaged during
the siege in 1848, but since rebuilt. Its proximity to the tomb of
Baháwal Hakk, a very holy place in the eyes of the Muhammadans of the
S.W. Panjáb and Sindh, has at times been a cause of anxiety to the
authorities. Baháwal Hakk and Bába Faríd, the two great saints of the
S.W. Panjáb, were contemporaries and friends. They flourished in the
thirteenth century, and it probably would be true to ascribe largely to
their influence the conversion of the south-west Panjáb to Islám, which
was so complete and of which we know so little. The tomb of Baháwal Hakk
was much injured during the siege, but afterwards repaired. Outside is a
small monument marking the resting place of the brave old Nawáb
Muzaffar Khán. Another conspicuous object is the tomb of Rukn ud dín
'Alam, grandson of Baháwal Hakk. An obelisk in the fort commemorates the
deaths of the two British officers who were murdered on the outbreak of
the revolt. A simpler epitaph would have befitted men who died in the
execution of their duty.
~Trade and Manufactures.~--Though heat and dust make the climate of Multán
trying, it is a very healthy place. The population rose steadily from
68,674 in 1881 to 99,243 in 1911. The chief local industries are silk
and cotton weaving and the making of shoes. Multán has also some
reputation for carpets, glazed pottery and enamel, and of late for tin
boxes. A special feature of its commerce is the exchange of piece goods,
shoes, and sugar for the raw silk, fruits, spices, and drugs brought in
by Afghán traders. The Civil Lines lie to the south of the city and
connect it with the Cantonment, which is an important military station.
~Pesháwar~ (34.1 N., 71.35 E.) is 276 miles from Lahore and 190 from
Kábul. There is little doubt that the old name was Purushapura, the town
of Purusha, though Abu Rihan (Albiruni), a famous Arab geographer, who
lived in the early part of the eleventh century, calls it Parsháwar,
which Akbar corrupted into Pesháwar, or the frontier fort. As the
capital of King Kanishka it was in the second century of the Christian
era a great centre of Buddhism (page 164). Its possession of Buddha's
alms bowl and of yet more precious relics of the Master deposited by
Kanishka in a great _stupa_ (page 203) made it the first place to be
visited by the Chinese pilgrims who came to India between 400 and 630
A.D. Hiuen Tsang tells us the town covered 40 li or 6-3/4 miles. Its
position on the road to Kábul made it a place of importance under the
Moghal Empire. On its decline Pesháwar became part of the dominions of
the Durání rulers of Kábul, and finally fell into the hands of Ranjít
Singh. His Italian general Avitabile ruled it with an iron rod. In 1901
it became the capital of the new N. W. F. Province.
~The Town~ lies near the Bára stream in a canal-irrigated tract. On the
north-west it is commanded by the Bála Hissár, a fort outside the walls.
The suburbs with famous fruit gardens are on the south side, and the
military and civil stations to the west. The people to be seen in the
_bazárs_ of Pesháwar are more interesting than any of its buildings. The
Gor Khatrí, part of which is now the _tahsíl_, from which a bird's-eye
view of the town can be obtained, was successively the site of a
Buddhist monastery, a Hindu temple, a rest-house built by Jahángír's
Queen, Nur Jahán, and the residence of Avitabile. The most noteworthy
Muhammadan building is Muhabbat Khán's mosque. Avitabile used to hang
people from its minarets. The Hindu merchants live in the quarter known
as Andar Shahr, the scene of destructive fires in 1898 and 1913.
Pesháwar is now a well-drained town with a good water supply. It is an
entrepôt of trade with Kábul and Bokhára. From the former come raw silk
and fruit, and from the latter gold and silver thread and lace _en
route_ to Kashmír. The Kábulí and Bokháran traders carry back silk
cloth, cotton piece goods, sugar, tea, salt, and Kashmír shawls.
~Simla~ (31.6 N., 77.1 E.) lies on a spur of the Central Himálaya at a
mean height exceeding 7000 feet. A fine hill, Jakko, rising 1000 feet
higher, and clothed with _deodár_, oak, and rhododendron, occupies the
east of the station and many of the houses are on its slopes. The other
heights are Prospect Hill and Observatory Hill in the western part of
the ridge. Viceregal Lodge is a conspicuous object on the latter, and
below, between it and the Annandale race-course, is a fine glen, where
the visitor in April from the dry and dusty plains can gather yellow
primroses (Primula floribunda) from the dripping rocks. The beautiful
Elysium Hill is on a small spur running northwards from the main ridge.
Simla is 58 miles by cart road from Kálka, at the foot of the hills, and
somewhat further by the narrow gauge railway.
[Illustration: Fig. 149. Trans-border traders in Pesháwar.]
~History.~--Part of the site was retained at the close of the Gurkha war
in 1816, and the first English house, a wooden cottage with a thatched
roof, was built three years later. The first Governor General to spend
the summer in Simla was Lord Amherst in 1827. After the annexation of
the Panjáb in 1849 Lord Dalhousie went there every year, and from 1864
Simla may be said to have become the summer capital of India. It became
the summer headquarters of the Panjáb Government twelve years later. The
thirty houses of 1830 have now increased to about 2000. Six miles
distant on the beautiful Mahásu Ridge the Viceroy has a "Retreat," and
on the same ridge and below it at Mashobra there are a number of
European houses. There are excellent hotels in Simla, and the cold
weather tourist can pay it a very pleasant visit, provided he avoids the
months of January and February.
~Srínagar~ (34.5 N., 74.5 E.), the summer capital of the Mahárája of
Kashmír, is beautifully situated on both banks of the river Jhelam at a
level of 5250 feet above the sea. To the north are the Hariparvat or
Hill of Vishnu with a rampart built by Akbar and the beautiful Dal lake.
Every visitor must be rowed up its still waters to the Násím Bágh, a
grove of plane (_chenâr_) trees, laid out originally in the reign of the
same Emperor. Between the lake and the town is the Munshí Bágh, in and
near which are the houses of Europeans including the Residency. The
splendid plane trees beside the river bank, to which house boats are
moored, and the beautiful gardens attached to some of the houses, make
this a very charming quarter. The Takht i Sulimán to the west of
Srínagar is crowned by a little temple, whose lower walls are of great
age. The town itself is intersected by evil-smelling canals and consists
in the main of a jumble of wooden houses with thatched roofs. Sanitary
abominations have been cleansed from time to time by great fires and
punished by severe outbreaks of cholera. The larger part of the
existing city is on the left side. The visitor may be content to view
the parts of the town to be seen as he is rowed down the broad waterway
from the Munshí Bágh passing under picturesque wooden bridges, and
beside temples with shining metal roofs and the beautiful mosque of Sháh
Hamadán. On the left bank below the first bridge is the Shergarhí with
the Mahárája's houses and the Government Offices. Opposite is a fine
_ghát_ or bathing place with stone steps. Between the third and fourth
bridges on the right bank is Sháh Hamadán's mosque, a carved cedar house
with Buddhist features, totally unlike the ordinary Indian mosque. The
stone mosque close by on the opposite side, built by Mir Jahán, was
seemingly rejected by Muhammadans as founded by a woman, and is now a
State granary. The Jama Masjid is on the north side, but not on the
river bank. The tomb of the great king, Zain ul Ábidín, is below the
fourth bridge, which bears his name. In the same quarter are the
storehouses of the dealers in carpets and art wares and the Mission
School. The last should be visited by anyone who wishes to see what a
manly education can make of material in some respects unpromising.
[Illustration: Fig. 150 Mosque of the Sháh Hamadán.]
CHAPTER XXX
OTHER PLACES OF NOTE
I. PANJÁB.
(_a_) _Ambála Division._
~Ambála~, 30·2 N.--76·4 E. Population 80,131, of which 54,223 in
Cantonments. A creation of British rule. It became the headquarters of
the Political Agent for the Cis-Sutlej States in 1823, and the
Cantonment was established in 1843. The Native City and the Civil Lines
lie some miles to the N.W. of the Cantonment. Headquarters of district
and division.
~Bhiwání~ (~Hissár~), 28·5 N.--76·8 E. Headquarters of _tahsíl_ in Hissár.
Population 31,100. On Rewárí--Ferozepore branch of Rájputána--Málwa
Railway. Has a brisk trade with Rájputána.
~Hánsí~ (~Hissár~), 29·7 N.--75·6 E. Headquarters of _tahsil_. Population
14,576. A very ancient town. In centre of canal tract of Hissár, and a
local centre of the cotton trade.
~Hissár~, 29·1 N.--75·4 E. Headquarters of district. Population 17,162.
Founded by the Emperor Firoz Sháh Tughlak, who supplied it with water by
a canal taken from the Jamna. This was the origin of the present Western
Jamna Canal. Is now a place of small importance.
~Jagádhrí~ (~Ambála~), 30·1 N.--77·2 E. Headquarters of _tahsil_.
Population 12,045. Connected with the N.W. Railway by a light railway.
The iron and brass ware of Jagádhrí are well known.
~Kaithal~ (~Karnál~), 29·5 N.--76·2 E. Headquarters of subdivision and
_tahsil_. Population 12,912. A town of great antiquity. Kaithal is a
corruption of Kapisthala--the monkey town, a name still appropriate.
Timúr halted here on his march to Delhi. Was the headquarters of the
Bhais of Kaithal, who held high rank among the Cis-Sutlej Sikh chiefs.
Kaithal lapsed in 1843.
~Karnál~, 29·4 N.--76·6 E. Headquarters of district. Population 21,961. On
Delhi--Kálka Railway. Till the Western Jamna Canal was realigned it was
most unhealthy, and the Cantonment was given up in 1841 on this account.
The health of the town is still unsatisfactory. Trade unimportant.
~Kasauli~ (~Ambála~), 30·5 N.--76·6 E. Small hill station overlooking
Kálka. Height 6000 feet. The Pasteur Institute for the treatment of
rabies is at Kasauli, and the Lawrence Military School at Sanáwar, three
miles off.
~Pánipat~ (~Karnál~), 29·2 N.--76·6 E. Headquarters of _tahsíl_.
Population 26,342. On Delhi--Kálka Railway. An important place in Hindu
and Muhammadan times (pages 172 and 179). Local manufactures, brass
vessels, cutlery, and glass.
~Pihowa~ (~Karnál~), 29·6 N.--76·3 E. A very sacred place on the holy
stream Sarusti.
~Rewárí~ (~Gurgáon~), 28·1 N.--76·4 E. Headquarters of _tahsil_.
Population 24,780. Junction of main line and Rewárí--Bhatinda branch of
Rájputána--Málwa Railway. Trade in grain and sugar with Rájputána.
~Rúpar~ (~Ambála~), 30·6 N.--76·3 E. Headquarters of subdivision and
_tahsíl_. Population 6935. Exchange market for products of Hills and
Plains. Headworks of Sirhind Canal are at Rúpar.
~Sirsa~ (~Hissár~), 29·3 N.--75·2 E. Headquarters of subdivision and
_tahsil_. Population 14,629. Sirsa or Sarsútí was an important place in
Muhammadan times. Deserted in the great famine of 1783 it was refounded
in 1838. On the Rewárí--Bhatinda Branch of the Rájputána--Málwa Railway.
Has a brisk trade with Rájputána.
~Thanesar~ (~Karnál~), 29·6 N.--76·5 E. See pages 165 and 168. Noted
place of pilgrimage. Headquarters of a _tahsíl_. Population 4719. The
old Hindu temples were utterly destroyed apparently when Thanesar was
sacked by Mahmúd in 1014. There is a fine tomb of a Muhammadan Saint,
Shekh Chillí.
(_b_) _Jalandhar Division._
~Aliwál~, 30·6 N.--75·4 E. Scene of Sir Harry Smith's victory over the
Sikhs on 28th January, 1846.
~Dharmsála~ (~Kángra~), 32·1 N.--76·1 E. Headquarters of district. On a
spur of the Dhauladhár Range. A Gurkha regiment is stationed here. The
highest part of Dharmsála is over 7000 feet, and the scenery is very
fine, but the place is spoiled as a hill station by the excessive
rainfall, which averages over 120 inches. In the earthquake of 1905,
1625 persons, including 25 Europeans, perished.
~Fázilka~ (~Ferozepore~), 30·3 N.--74·3 E. Headquarters of sub-division
and _tahsíl_. Population 10,985. Terminus of Fázilka extension of
Rájputána--Málwa Railway, and connected with Ludhiána by a line which
joins the Southern Panjáb Railway at Macleodganj. A grain mart.
~Ferozepore~, 30·6 N.--74·4 E. Headquarters of district. Population
50,836 including 26,158 in Cantonment. (See page 245.)
~Ferozesháh~ (~Ferozepore~), 30·5 N.--74·5 E. The real name is
Pherushahr. Sir Hugh Gough defeated the Sikhs here after two days' hard
fighting on Dec. 21-22, 1845.
~Jalandhar~, 31·2 N.--75·3 E. Headquarters of district. Population
69,318, including 13,964 in Cantonment. The Cantonment lies four miles
to the S.E. of the native town and three miles from the Civil Lines.
(See page 241.)
~Jawála Mukhí~ (~Kángra~), 31·5 N.--76·2 E. Celebrated place of Hindu
pilgrimage with a famous temple of the goddess Jawálamukhí, built over
some jets of combustible gas.
~Kángra~, 30·5 N.--76·2 E. Headquarters of _tahsíl_. Ancient name
Nagarkot. The celebrated temple and the fort of the Katoch kings of
Kángra were destroyed in the earthquake of 1905. (See pages 168, 171,
183.)
~Ludhiána~, 30·6 N.--75·5 E. Headquarters of district. Population
44,170. The manufacture of _pashmína_ shawls was introduced in 1833 by
Kashmírís. Ludhiána is well known for its cotton fabrics and turbans (p.
152).
~Mudkí~ (~Ferozepore~), 30·5 N.--74·5 E. The opening battle of the 1st
Sikh War was fought here on 18th December, 1845.
(_c_) _Lahore Division._
~Batála~ (~Gurdáspur~), 30·5 N.--75·1 E. Headquarters of _tahsíl_.
Population 26,430. Chief town in Gurdáspur district on the
Amritsar--Pathánkot Railway. Cotton, silk, leathern goods, and soap are
manufactured, and there is a large trade in grain and sugar. The Baring
Anglo-Vernacular High School for Christian boys is a well-known
institution.
~Dalhousie~ (~Gurdáspur~), 33·3 N.--75·6 E. A well-known hill station at
height of 7687 feet, 51 miles N.W. of Pathánkot, from which it is
reached by tonga. The Commissioner of Lahore and the Deputy Commissioner
of Gurdáspur spend part of the hot weather at Dalhousie. It is a very
pretty and healthy place, with the fine Kálatop Forest in Chamba close
by, and is deservedly popular as a summer resort.
~Gujránwála~, 32·9 N.--74·1 E. Headquarters of district. Population
29,472. An active trade centre. Ranjít Singh was born, and the tomb of
his father, Mahán Singh is, at Gujránwála.
~Kasúr~ (~Lahore~), 31·8 N--74·3 E. Headquarters of _tahsíl_ in Lahore.
Population 24,783. Between Raiwind and Ferozepore on N.W. Railway, and
has direct railway communication with Amritsar. A very ancient place and
now an active local trade centre.
~Nankána-Sáhib~ (~Gujránwala~), 31·6 N.--73·8 E. In south of Gujránwála
district on Chichoki--Shorkot Railway. Venerated by Sikhs as the early
home of Bába Nának.
~Siálkot~, 32·3 N.--74·3 E. Headquarters of district. Population 64,869,
of which 16,274 in Cantonment. A very old place connected with the
legendary history of Raja Sáliváhan and his two sons Púran and Rája
Rasálu. (See also page 165.) The Cantonment is about a mile and a half
from the town. Siálkot is an active trade centre. Its hand-made paper
was once well known, but the demand has declined. Tents, tin boxes,
cricket and tennis bats, and hockey sticks, are manufactured.
~Tarn Táran~ (~Amritsar~), 31·3 N.--74·6 E. Headquarters of _tahsíl_.
Population 4260. On Amritsar--Kasúr Railway. The tank is said to have
been dug by Guru Arjan and it and the temple beside it are held in great
reverence by the Sikhs. The water is supposed to cure leprosy. The leper
asylum at Tarn Táran in charge of the Rev. E. Guilford of the Church
Missionary Society is an admirable institution. Clay figures of this
popular missionary can be bought in the _bazár_.
(_d_) _Ráwalpindí Division._
~Attock~ (~Atak~), 32·5 N.--72·1 E. The fort was built by Akbar to
protect the passage of the Indus. In the river gorge below is a
whirlpool between two jutting slate rocks, called Kamália and Jamália
after two heretics who were flung into the river in Akbar's reign. The
bridge which carries the railway across the Indus still makes Attock a
position of military importance. Population 630.
~Bhera~ (~Sháhpur~), 32·3 N.--72·6 E. Headquarters of _tahsíl_.
Population 15,202. A very ancient town which was sacked by Mahmúd and
two centuries later by Chingiz Khán. Has an active trade. The
wood-carvers of Bhera are skilful workmen. Woollen felts are
manufactured.
~Chilianwála~ (~Chelianwála~) (~Gujrát~), 32·7 N.--73·6 E. Famous
battlefield (page 187).
~Gujrát~, 32·3 N.--74·5 E. Headquarters of district. Population 19,090.
An old place, famous in recent history for the great battle on 22
February, 1849 (page 187). Has a brisk local trade.
~Hasn Abdál~ (~Attock~) 33·5 N.--72·4 E. On N.W. Railway. Shrine of Bába
Walí Kandahárí on hill above village. Below is the Sikh shrine of the
Panja Sáhib, the rock in which bears the imprint of Bába Nának's five
fingers (_panja_).
~Jhelam~, 32·6 N.--73·5 E. Headquarters of district and an important
cantonment. Population 19,678, of which 7380 in cantonment. Has only
become a place of any importance under British rule. Is an important
depot for Kashmir timber trade.
~Kálabágh~ (~Mianwálí~), 32·6 N.--71·3 E. Population 6654. Picturesquely
situated below hills which are remarkable for the fantastic shapes
assumed by salt exposed on the surface. The Kálabágh salt is in favour
from its great purity. The Malik of Kálabágh is the leading man in the
Awán tribe.
~Katás~ (~Jhelam~), 32·4 N.--72·6 E. A sacred pool in the Salt Range and
a place of Hindu pilgrimage. The tears of Siva weeping for the loss of
his wife Satí formed the Katáksha pool in the Salt Range and Pushkar at
Ajmer.
~Khewra~ (~Jhelam~), 32·4 N.--73·3 E. In Salt Range five and a half
miles N.E. of Pinddádankhán. The famous Mayo Salt Mine is here.
~Malot~ (~Jhelam~), 32·4 N.--72·5 E. Nine miles W. of Katás (see above).
Fort and temple on a spur of the Salt Range. Temple in early Kashmir
style (_Archaeological Survey Reports_, Vol. v. pp. 85-90).
~Mankiála~ (~Manikyála~) (~Ráwalpindi~), 33·3 N.--74·2 E. A little
village close to which are the remains of a great Buddhist _stúpa_ and
of a number of monasteries (page 202).
~Murree~ (~Marrí~) (~Ráwalpindi~), 33·5 N.--73·2 E. Hill Station near
Kashmír road on a spur of the Himálaya--height 7517 feet--39 miles from
Ráwalpindí, from which visitors are conveyed by tonga. The views from
Murree are magnificent and the neighbourhood of the Hazára Galís is an
attraction. But the climate is not really bracing. The summer
headquarters of the Northern Army are at Murree, and before 1876 the
Panjáb Government spent the hot weather there. The Commissioner and
Deputy Commissioner of Ráwalpindí take their work there for several
months.
~Murtí~ (~Jhelam~), 32·4 N.--72·6 E. In Gandhála valley on bank of Katás
stream. Remains of a Buddhist _stúpa_ and of a Jain temple.
(_Archaeological Survey Reports_, Vol. II. pp. 88 and 90.)
~Ráwalpindí~, 33·4 N.--73·7 E. Headquarters of district and division,
and the most important cantonment in Northern India. Population 86,483,
of which 39,841 in Cantonment. It owes its importance entirely to
British rule. Large carrying trade with Kashmír. Contains the N.W.
Railway Locomotive and Carriage works and several private factories,
also a branch of the Murree brewery. There is an important arsenal. The
Park, left fortunately mainly in its natural state, is an attractive
feature of the cantonment.
~Rohtás~ (~Jhelam~), 32·6 N.--73·5 E. Ten miles N.W. of Jhelam on the
far side of the gorge where the Kahá torrent breaks through a spur of
the Tilla Range. Fine remains of a very large fort built by the Emperor
Sher Sháh Surí.
~Sakesar~ (~Sháhpur~), 31·3 N.--71·6 E. Highest point of Salt Range,
5010 feet above sea level. The Deputy Commissioners of Sháhpur,
Mianwálí, and Attock spend part of the hot weather at Sakesar.
~Sháhdherí~ (~Ráwalpindí~), 33·2 N.--72·5 E. On the Hazára border and
near the Margalla Pass. Site of the famous city of Táxila (Takshasilá).
See pages 161, 165, and 204. Excavation is now being carried out with
interesting results.
~Táxila~. See Sháhdherí.
(_e_) _Multán Division._
~Chiniot~ (~Jhang~), 31·4 N.--73·0 E. Headquarters of _tahsíl_. Population
14,085. A very old town near the left bank of the Chenáb. Famous for
brasswork and wood-carving. The Muhammadan Khoja traders have large
business connections with Calcutta, Bombay, and Karáchí. Fine mosque of
the time of Sháhjahán.
~Kamália~ (~Lyallpur~), 30·4 N.--72·4 E. Population 8237. An old town.
Cotton printing with hand blocks is a local industry. The town should
now prosper as it is a station on the Chichoki--Shorkot Road Railway and
irrigation from the Lower Chenáb Canal has reached its neighbourhood.
~Lyallpur~, 31·3 N.--73·9 E. Fine new Colony town. Headquarters of
district. Population 19,578. Large wheat trade with Karáchí, and has a
number of cotton ginning and pressing factories.
~Montgomery~, 30·4 N.--73·8 E. Headquarters of district. Population 8129.
May become a place of some importance with the opening of the Lower Bárí
Doáb Canal. Hitherto one of the hottest and dreariest stations in the
Panjáb, but healthy.
~Pákpattan~, 30·2 N.--73·2 E. Headquarters of _tahsíl_. Population 7912.
On Sutlej Valley Railway. Anciently known as Ajodhan and was a place of
importance. Contains shrine of the great Saint Faríd ul Hakk wa ud Dín
Shakarganj (1173-1265). Visited by Timúr in 1398. There is a great
annual festival attracting crowds of pilgrims, who come even from
Afghánistán. There is great competition to win eternal bliss by getting
first through the gate at the entrance to the shrine.
II. PANJÁB NATIVE STATES.
~Baháwalpur~, 29·2 N.--71·5 E. Capital of State on N.W. Railway 65 miles
south of Multán. Population 18,414. There is a large palace built by
Nawáb Muhammad Sadík Muhammad Khán IV in 1882.
~Barnála~ (~Patiála~), 32·2 N.--75·4 E. Headquarters of Anáhadgarh Nizámat
on Rájpura-Bhatinda branch of N.W. Railway. Population 5341. For the
famous battle see page 179.
~Bhatinda~ (~Patiála~), 30·1 N.--75·0 E. Also called Govindgarh. Old names
are Vikramagarh and Bhatrinda. Historically a place of great interest
(page 167). Fell into decay in later Muhammadan times. Is now a great
railway junction and a nourishing grain mart. The large fort is a
conspicuous object for many miles round. Population 15,037.
~Brahmaur~, 32·3 N.--76·4 E. The old capital of Chamba, now a small
village. Has three old temples. One of Lakshana Deví has an inscription
of Meru Varma, who ruled Chamba in the seventh century.
~Chamba~, 32·3 N.--76·1 E. Capital of State picturesquely situated on a
plateau above right bank of Ráví. Population 5523. The white palace is a
conspicuous object. There is an excellent hospital and an interesting
museum. The group of temples near the palace is noteworthy (page 201).
That of Lakshmí Naráyan perhaps dates from the tenth century. The Ráví
is spanned at Chamba by a fine bridge.
~Chíní~ (~Bashahr~), 31·3 N.--78·2 E. Headquarters of Kanáwar near the
right bank of Sutlej. Elevation 9085 feet. Was a favourite residence of
Lord Dalhousie. There is a Moravian Mission Station at Chíní.
~Kapúrthala~, 31·2 N.--75·2 E. Capital of State. Contains Mahárája's
palace. Population 16,367.
~Malerkotla~, 30·3 N.--75·6 E. Capital of State. Population 23,880.
~Mandí~, 31·4 N.--76·6 E. Capital of State. Population 7896. On the
Biás, 131 miles from Pathánkot, with which it is connected by the
Pathánkot--Palampur--Baijnáth road. There is a fine iron bridge spanning
the Biás. It is a mart for trade with Ladákh and Yárkand.
~Nábha~, 30·2 N.--76·1 E. Capital of State. Population 13,620, as
compared with 18,468 in 1901. Founded in 1755 by Hamír Singh (page 277).
Since irrigation from the Sirhind Canal has been introduced the environs
have become waterlogged and the town is therefore unhealthy.
~Náhan~, 30·3 N.--77·2 E. Capital of Sirmúr State. Elevation 3207 feet.
Population 6341. There is a good iron foundry at Náhan.
~Patiála~, 30·2 N.--76·3 E. Capital of State. Population 46,974. On
Rájpura-Bhatinda Branch of N.W. Railway. Contains fine gardens and
modern buildings. The old palace is in the centre of the town. Patiála
is a busy mart for local trade.
~Pattan Munára~ (~Baháwalpur~), 28·1 N.--70·2 E. There are the ruins
here of a large city and of a Buddhist monastery. They are situated in
the south of the State five miles east of Rahím Yár Khán Station.
~Sangrúr~ (~Jínd~), 30·1 N.--75·6 E. Became the capital of Jínd State in
1827. Population 9041. On Ludhiána--Dhurí--Jakhal Railway.
~Sirhind~ (~Patiála~), 30·4 N.--76·3 E. Properly Sahrind. On N.W.
Railway. Population 3843. The idea that the name is Sir-Hind = head of
India is a mistake. An old town of great importance in Muhammadan period
(pages 177 and 180). The ruins extend for several miles. There are two
fine tombs known as those of the Master and his Disciple dating probably
from the fourteenth century.
~Suí Vehar~ (~Baháwalpur~), 29·2 N.--71·3 E. Six miles from Samasata.
Site of a ruined Buddhist _stúpa_. An inscription found at Suí Vehár
belongs to the reign of Kanishka (page 164).
~Uch~ (~Baháwalpur~), 29·1 N.--71·4 E. On the Sutlej near the point
where it joins the Chenáb. Consists now of three villages. But it was in
early Muhammadan times a place of great importance, and a centre of
learning. It is still very sacred in the eyes of Musalmáns.
III. NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE.
(_a_) _Districts._
~Abbottábád~, 34·9 N.--73·1 E. Headquarters of district and a cantonment
with four battalions of Gurkhas. Population 11,506. At south end of
Orash Plain 4120 feet above sea level. Appropriately named after Captain
James Abbott (page 299).
~Bannu.~ See Edwardesábád.
~Cherát~ (~Pesháwar~), 33·5 N.--71·5 E. Small hill sanitarium in Pesháwar
near Kohát border, 4500 feet above sea level.
~Dera Ismail Khán~, 31·5 N.--70·6 E. Headquarters of district and a
cantonment. Population 35,131, including 5730 in cantonment. The Powinda
caravans pass through Dera Ismail Khán on their march to and from India.
~Dungagalí~ (~Hazára~), 34·6 N.--73·2 E. Small sanitarium, elevation 7800
feet, in Hazára Galís, two miles from Nathiagalí. Moshpurí rises above
it to a height of 9232 feet.
~Edwardesábád~ (~Bannu~), 33·0 N.--70·4 E. Headquarters of Bannu district
and a cantonment. Founded by Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Herbert)
Edwardes in 1848. Population 16,865. It is unhealthy owing to the heavy
irrigation in the neighbourhood.
~Fort Lockhart~ (~Kohát~), 33·3 N.--70·6 E. Important military outpost on
Samána Range, elevation 6743 feet. Saragarhí, heroically defended by
twenty-one Sikhs in 1897 against several thousand Orakzais, is in the
neighbourhood.
~Kohát~, 33·3 N.--71·3 E. Headquarters of district and a cantonment.
Population 22,654, including 5957 in Cantonment. On Khushálgarh--Thal
Branch of N.W. Railway.
~Mansehra~ (~Hazára~), 34·2 N.--73·1 E. Headquarters of _tahsíl_. The two
rock edicts of Asoka are in the neighbourhood (pages 163 and 202).
~Nathiagalí~ (~Hazára~), 34·5 N.--73·6 E. Summer headquarters of Chief
Commissioner of N.W.F. Province in Hazára Galís. Elevation 8200 feet. It
is a beautiful little hill station. Míran Jáni (9793 feet) is close by,
and on a clear day Nanga Parvat can be seen in the far distance.
~Naushahra~ (~Pesháwar~), 34 N.--72 E. Population 25,498, including 14,543
in cantonment. On railway 27 miles east of Pesháwar. Risálpura, a new
cavalry cantonment, is in the neighbourhood.
~Shekhbudín~, 32·2 N.--70·5 E. Small hill station on Níla Koh on border
of Dera Ismail Khán and Bannu districts. Elevation 4516 feet. It is on a
bare limestone rock with very scanty vegetation and is hot in summer in
the daytime. Water is scarce. The Deputy Commissioners of Bannu and Dera
Ismail Khán spend part of the hot weather at Shekhbudín.
~Thal~ (~Kohát~), 33·2 N.--70·3 E. Important military outpost at
entrance of Kurram Valley. Terminus of Khushálgarh--Thal branch of N.W.
Railway.
~Thandiání~ (~Hazára~), 34·1 N.--73·2 E. Small hill station in Galís
sixteen miles N.E. of Abbottábád. Elevation about 8800 feet. A
beautifully situated place chiefly resorted to by residents of
Abbottábád and Missionaries.
(_b_) _Agencies and Independent Territory._
~Ali Masjid~ (~Khaibar~), 34·2 N.--71·5 E. Village and fort in Khaibar,
10-1/4 miles from Jamrúd. Elevation 2433 feet.
~Ambela~ (~Indep. Territory~), 34·2 N.--72·4 E. Pass in Buner, which
gave its name to the Ambela campaign of 1863 (page 191).
~Chakdarra~ (~Dír~, ~Swát~, and ~Chitrál~), 34·4 N.--72·8 E. Military
post to N.E. of Malakand Pass on south bank of Swát River.
~Chitrál~, 35·5 N.--71·5 E. A group of villages forming capital of
Chitrál State. There is a small _bazár_.
~Jamrúd~ (~Khaibar~), 34 N.--71·2 E. Just beyond Pesháwar boundary at
mouth of Khaibar. Terminus of railway. 10-1/2 miles west of Pesháwar.
There is a fort and a large _sarai_. Elevation 1670 feet.
~Landí Kotal~ (~Khaibar~), 34·6 N.--71·8 E. 20 miles from Jamrúd. Fort
garrisoned by Khaibar Rifles at highest point of Khaibar route.
Elevation 3373 feet. Afghán frontier 6 miles beyond.
~Malakand~ (~Dír~, ~Swát~, and ~Chitrál~), 34·3 N.--71·6 E. Pass leading
into Swát Valley from Pesháwar district.
~Míram Sháh~ (~N. Wazíristán~), 33·6 N.--70·7 E. Headquarters of North
Wazíristán Agency in Tochí Valley 3050 feet above the sea.
~Parachinár~ (~Kurram~), 33·5 N.--70·4 E. Headquarters of Kurram Agency
and of Kurram Militia. Climate temperate. Population 2364.
~Wána~ (~S. Wazíristán~), 37·2 N.--69·4 E. Headquarters of South
Wazíristán Agency. In a wide valley watered by Wána Toi. There is much
irrigation and the place is unhealthy, though the elevation of the
Valley is from 4300 to 5800 feet.
IV. KASHMÍR AND JAMMU.
~Báramúla~, 34·1 N.--74·2 E. Situated at the point where the Jhelam gorge
ends and the Vale of Kashmír begins. Travellers who intend to go to
Srínagar by water board their house boats here. There is an excellent
poplar-lined road from Báramúla to Srínagar and a bad road to Gulmarg.
~Chilás~, 35·4 N.--74·2 E. See page 323.
~Gulmarg~, 34·1 N.--74·4 E. S.W. of Srínagar. It is a favourite hot
weather resort of Europeans. The Mahárája has a house here. The forest
scenery is beautiful, especially on the way to the limit of trees at
Khilanmarg. Good golf links on beautiful turf.
~Gurais~, 34·7 N.--74·8 E. A beautiful valley drained by the head waters
of the Kishnganga. It lies between Bandipura and the Burzil Pass on the
road to Gilgit.
~Hunza~, 36·4 N.--74·7 E. (See page 323.) Hunza is a group of villages.
The Rajá's (or Tham's) fort, Baltit castle, at an elevation of 7000 feet
is splendidly situated in full view of Rakaposhi, distant 20 miles. It
is overhung by the enormous mass of snow peaks said to be called in the
language of the country Boiohaghurduanasur (the peak of the galloping
horse).
~Islámábád~, 33·4 N.--75·1 E. About 40 miles by river from Srínagar, near
the point where the Jhelam ceases to be navigable. Achabal and Mártand
are easily visited from Islámábád, and it is the starting point for the
Liddar Valley and Pahlgam. It is a dirty insanitary place.
~Jammu~, 32·4 N.--74·5 E. Capital of the Jammu province and winter
residence of the Mahárája. Connected with Siálkot by rail. Situated
above the ravine in which the Tawí flows. At a distance the white-washed
temples with gilded pinnacles look striking. The town was once much more
prosperous than it is to-day.
~Leh~, 34·2 N.--77·5 E. Capital of Ladákh. On the Indus 11,500 feet above
sea-level. The meeting place of caravans from India and Yárkand. The
Central Asian caravans arrive in Autumn, when the _bazár_, in a wide
street lined with poplars, becomes busy. The Wazír Wazárat has his
headquarters here, and there is a small garrison in the mud fort. The
old palace of the Gyalpo (King) is a large pile on a ridge overhanging
the town. There are Moravian and Roman Catholic missions at Leh.
~Mártand~, 33·4 N.--75·1 E. Remains of a remarkable temple of the Sun god
three miles east of Islámábád (pages 166 and 201).
~Payer~ (erroneously ~Payech~). Nineteen miles from Srínagar containing a
beautiful and well-preserved temple of the Sun god, dated variously from
the fifth to the thirteenth century (page 202).
~Punch~, 33·4 N.--74·9 E. Capital of the _jágír_ of the Rája of Punch, a
feudatory of the Kashmír State. 3300 feet above sea level. There is a
brisk trade in grain and _ghí_. Decent roads connect Punch with
Ráwalpindí and Urí on the Jhelam. Cart Road into Kashmír. Kashmírís call
the place Prunts and its old name was Parnotsa.
~Skardo~, 35·3 N.--75·6 E. Old capital of Báltistán. 7250 feet above
sea-level. In a sandy basin lying on both sides of the Indus, and about
five miles in width. A _tahsíldár_ is stationed at Skardo.
* * * * *
TABLE I. _Tribes of Panjáb (including Native States) and N.W.F.
Province[1]._
------------------------------+------------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------
Landholding etc. | Traders | Artizans and menials | Impure Castes
--------------+------+--------+--------+------+--------+-----------+------+--------+---------+------+--------
Tribe |Panjáb|N.W.F.P.| Tribe |Panjáb|N.W.F.P.| Tribe |Panjáb|N.W.F.P.| Tribe |Panjáb|N.W.F.P.
| p.c. | p.c. | | p.c. | p.c. | | p.c. | p.c. | | p.c. | p.c.
--------------+------+--------+--------+------+--------+-----------+------+--------+---------+------+--------
Jats | 20.5 | 3.9 | Aroras | 2.8 | 3.1 |Lohárs and | | |Chúhra[8]| 5.1 |
Rajputs | 6.8 | .7 | Khatrís| 1.8 | 1.2 |Tarkháns[2]| 4.0 | 3.3 |Chamár[9]| 4.7 |
Arains and | | | Banias | 1.7 | -- |Juláhas[3] | 2.6 | 1.7 | | |
Kambohs | 4.8 | -- | | | |Jhínwar and| | | | |
Brahmans | 4.2 | .6 | | | | Máchhi[4] | 2.6 | --- | | |
Gújars | 2.5 | 5.2 | | | |Kumhár[5] | 2.3 | 1.0 | | |
Biloch | 2.2 | 1.2 | | | |Nai[6] | 1.4 | 1.1 | | |
Awán | 1.8 | 12.6 | | | |Telí[7] | 1.2 | .3 | | |
Shekhs inc. | | | | | | | | | | |
Kureshí | 1.7 | | | | | | | | | |
Kanet | 1.7 | -- | | | | | | | | |
Sainís, Málís,| | | | | | | | | | |
and Malliárs | 1.3 | 1.8 | | | | | | | | |
Patháns | 1.2 | 38.3 | | | | | | | | |
Saiyyíds | 1.0 | 4.4 | | | | | | | | |
--------------+------+--------+--------+------+--------+-----------+------+--------+---------+------+--------
[1] Only tribes amounting in number to 1 p.c. of total population shown.
[2] Blacksmiths and Carpenters.
[3] Weavers.
[4] Water carriers.
[5] Potter.
[6] Barber.
[7] Oilman.
[8] Scavenger.
[9] Leather-worker.
* * * * *
TABLE II. _Rainfall, Cultivation, Population, and Land Revenue._
----------+-------------+--------+-------+----------+-------------------------------------------+----------+-------------
| | | | | Classes of Cultivation, p.c. |Population| Land
Zone | District |Rainfall|No. of |Cultivated+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+ 1911 | Revenue
| | in |Masonry| Area | | | | | | | | | in 1911-12
| |inches |Wells | Acres |Well |Canal| Abí |Total|Moist| Dry |Total | | in hundreds
| | | | 1911-12 | | | |Irrd.| | |Unirrd.| | of rupees
----------+-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
|Kánga | 125 | 5 | 587,826 | -- | -- | 20 | 20 | -- | 80 | 80 | 770,386| 9,267
|Simla | 68 | -- | 9,984 | -- | -- | 7 | 7 | -- | 93 | 93 | 39,320| 175
|Ambála | 35 | 2,154 | 750,515 | 4 | -- | 2 | 6 | 4 | 90 | 94 | 689,970| 11,477
|Hoshyárpur | 36 | 6,841 | 722,122 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | -- | 92 | 92 | 918,569| 14,225
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Total British| -- | 9,000 |2,070,447 | 3 | 1 | 6½ | 10½ | 1½ | 88 | 89½ | 2,418,245| 35,144
Mountain |dts. Panjáb | | | | | | | | | | | | (1.10.0[1])
and +-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
Submontane| Hazára | | | | | | | | | | | |
| (N.W.F.P.) | 46 | 353 | 430,872 | -- | -- | 10 | 10 | -- | 90 | 90 | 603,028| 5,129
| | | | | | | | | | | | | (1.3.1)
+-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
|Kashmír and | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Jammu | 35[3] | -- |1,750,056 | -- | -- | -- | 32 | -- | -- | 68 | 2,893,066| --
|Indus | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Valley[2] | 5[4] | -- | 121,952 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 100 | 210,315| --
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Total Kashmir| -- | -- |1,872,008 | -- | -- | -- | 30 | -- | -- | 70 | 3,103,381| --
----------+-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
| Gujrát | 28 |10,221 | 845,023 | 26 | -- | -- | 26 | 6 | 68 | 74 | 784,011| 8,445
North | Siálkot | 35 |23,010 | 941,558 | 54 | 1 | 3 | 58 | 9 | 33 | 42 | 979,553| 14,847
Central | Gurdáspur | 35 | 6,439 | 844,403 | 16 | 11 | -- | 27 | 14 | 59 | 73 | 836,771| 15,410
Panjáb | Amritsar | 24 |12,386 | 787,229 | 31 | 31 | -- | 62 | 4 | 34 | 38 | 880,728| 12,746
Plain | Jalandhar | 28 |28,289 | 695,571 | 44 | -- | -- | 44 | 5 | 51 | 56 | 801,920| 14,871
(British | Ludhiána | 28 | 9,991 | 754,373 | 19 | 7 | -- | 26 | 4 | 70 | 74 | 517,192| 11,103
Districts)| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Total | |90,336 |4,868,157 | 32 | 8 | 1 | 41 | 7 | 52 | 59 | 4,800,175| 77,422
| | | | | | | | | | | | | (1.9.5)
----------+-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
----------+-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
|Ráwalpíndí | 33 | 947 | 598,371 | ½ | -- | ½ | 1 | -- | 99 | 99 | 547,827| 6,754
|Jhelam | 26 | 4,103 | 754,585 | 4 | -- | -- | 4 | 4 | 92 | 96 | 511,175| 7,576
|Attock | 19 | 6,850 |1,031,962 | 2½ | -- | 1 | 3½ | 1 | 96 | 97 | 519,273| 6,741
|Mianwáli | 12 | 7,128 | 748,255 | 17 | 2 | -- | 19 | 38½ | 42½| 81 | 341,377| 4,866
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
North- |Total Panjáb | -- |19,028 |3,133,173 | 6 | ½ | ½ | 7 | 10 | 83 | 93 | 1,919,652| 25,937
West | | | | | | | | | | | | | (0.13.3)
Area +-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
|Pesháwar | 13 | 6,597 | 894,803 | 5 | 33 | ½ | 38½ | 2 | 59½| 61½ | 865,009| 11,375
|Kohát | 18 | 467 | 327,949 | ½ | -- | 12 | 12½ | ½ | 87 | 87½ | 222,690| 2,755
|Bannu | 13 | 11 | 523,688 | -- | 24 | -- | 24 | -- | 76 | 76 | 256,086| 3,040
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Total | -- | 7,075 |1,746,440 | 3 | 24-½| 2-½| 30 | 1 | 69 | 70 | 1,343,785| 17,170
| N.W.F.P. | | | | | | | | | | | | (0.15.8)
----------+-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
|Gujránwála | 24 |10,926 |1,179,348 | 37 | 40 | -- | 77 | 4 | 19 | 23 | 923,419| 10,497
|Lahore | 21 |13,828 |1,462,108 | 31 | 43-½| 1 | 75½ | 5 | 19½| 24½ | 1,036,158| 11,301
|Sháhpur | 14 | 6,403 |1,267,566 | 14 | 55 | -- | 69 | 6 | 25 | 31 | 648,989| 8,701
|Jhang | 10 |11,588 | 723,733 | 36 | 46 | -- | 82 | 16 | 2 | 18 | 515,526| 6,429
|Lyallpur | 9 | 121 |1,373,892 | -- | 99 | -- | 99 | 1 | -- | 1 | 857,711| 12,736
South- |Montgomery | 10 |10,472 | 815,355 | 27 | 28 | 1 | 56 | 25 | 19 | 44 | 555,219| 6,225
Western |Multán | 7 |20,132 |1,081,030 | 58½ | 26 | 1 | 85½ | 13½ | 1 | 14½ | 814,871| 15,865
Plains |Muzaffargarh | 6 |14,053 | 553,643 | 36 | 33 | 4 | 73 | 27 | -- | 27 | 569,461| 7,316
|Dera Ghází | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Khán | 6 | 9,564 |1,035,011 | 25½ | 16 | 2½ | 42 | 53½ | 2½| 56 | 499,860| 5,752
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Total Panjáb | -- |97,087 |9,491,686 | 28 | 46 | 1 | 75 | 14½ | 10½| 25 | 6,420,814| 84,822
| districts | | | | | | | | | | | | (0.14.4)
+-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
|D.I. Khán | 8 | 795 | 544,746 | 1 | 17 | 8 | 26 | 11 | 63 | 74 | 256,120| 3,062
| N.W.F.P. | | | | | | | | | | | | (0.9.0)
----------+-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
|Karnál | 30 | 7,827 |1,148,876 | 13 | 21 | -- | 34 | 10 | 56 | 66 | 799,787| 10,833
|Delhi[6] | -- | 7,133 | 555,057 | 19 | 18 | -- | 37 | 6 | 57 | 63 | 657,604| 8,563
South- |Gurgaon | 26 | 6,594 | 988,613 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 24 | 3½ | 72½| 76 | 643,177| 12,182
Eastern |Rohtak | 21 | 2,450 | 974,200 | 4½ | 30 | -- | 34½ | -- | 65½| 65½ | 541,489| 9,660
Plains |Hissár | 16 | 720 |2,691,478 | -- | 11¼ | -- | 11¼ | 2¼ | 86½| 88¾ | 804,809| 8,582
(British |Ferozepore | 21 | 7,940 |2,248,322 | 7 | 40½ | -- | 47½ | 2 | 50½| 52½ | 959,657| 12,066
Districts)| | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Total Panjáb | -- |32,664 |8,606,546 | 7 | 22½ | -- | 29½ | 3½ | 67 | 70½ | 4,306,523| 61,886
| districts | | | | | | | | | | | | (0.11.6)
----------+-------------+--------+-------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+----------+-------------
[1] Rate per cultivated acre in rupees (Rupee 1 = 16 pence).
[2] = Ladákh, Baltistán, Astor, and Gilgit.
[3] At Jammu.
[4] At Gilgit. Leh 3, Skardo 5.
[5] Including Frontier _Iláka_ 264,750.
[6] The Delhi district has been broken
up, and, with the exception of the area now administered by the Government of India, has been divided between
Rohtak and Gurgaon.
* * * * *
TABLE III. _Diagrams relating to Cultivation._
PANJÁB
[Illustration: (_a_) Harvests and Irrigation
Rabi 59 p.c.
Irrigated Rabi 25/59
Kharif 41 p.c.
Irrigated Kharif 13/41]
[Illustration: (_b_) Classes of Land
Abi 1 p.c.
Canal 24 p.c.
Dry 49 p.c.
Moist 8 p.c.
Well 18 p.c.]
N.W.F. PROVINCE
(_a_) Harvests
Rabi 64 p.c.
Kharif 36 p.c.
[Illustration: (B) Classes of Land
Abi 6 p.c.
Well 2 p.c.
Canal 19 p.c.
Dry 70 p.c.
Moist 3 p.c.]
PANJÁB
[Illustration: (_c_) Crops
Wheat 31 p.c.
Other Crops 15-1/2 p.c.
Cotton 4-1/2 p.c.
Other Pulses 6-1/2 p.c.
Fodder 8-1/2 p.c.
Maize 4 p.c.
Millets (grain) 14 p.c.
Gram 16 p.c.]
N.W.F. PROVINCE
[Illustration: (_c_) Crops
Wheat 36 p.c.
Other Crops 19-1/2 p.c.
Other Pulses 3-1/2 p.c.
Fodder 3-1/2 p.c.
Maize 16-1/2 p.c.
Millets 12 p.c.
Cotton 2 p.c.
Gram 7 p.c.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Only tribes amounting in number to 1 p.c. of total population shown.
* * * * *
TABLE IV. _Percentages of Principal Crops_[1].
KEY:
** = (both harvests)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | Rape | Pulses | | |
| | | |_Toria_|------+------| | |
Zone | Districts |Wheat |Barley| and | |Other |Fodder|Maize |
| | | |_Tara_ | Gram |Pulses| ** | |
| | | |_mira_ | | ** | | |
----------+------------------+------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+
|Kángra | 32 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 4 | -- | 21 |
|Simla | 31 | 15 | -- | -- | 3 | -- | 13 |
|Ambála | 26 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 9 | 11 | 10½ |
|Hoshyárpur | 33 | 1½ | 1 | 17 | 5 | 7 | 17½ |
Mountain | | | | | | | | |
|Total Panjáb | 30 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 16 |
and | districts | | | | | | | |
|------------------+------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+
Submontane| | | | | | | | |
|Hazára N.W.F.P. | 26 | 10 | 1 | -- | 10 | 1½ | 43 |
Zone |------------------+------+------+-------+--------- ---+------+------+
| | | | | \________/ | | |
|Kashmír and Jammu | 21 | 4 | -- | 7 | -- | 38 |
|Indus Valley | 29 | 4 | -- | 12 | -- | 7 |
|------------------+------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+
|Total Kashmír | 23 | 4 | -- | 8 | -- | 35½ | -- |
----------+------------------+------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+
|Gujrát | 42 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 2½ |
North |Siálkot | 43 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 8 |
Central |Gurdáspur | 36 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 11 | 8 |
Panjáb |Amritsar | 36 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 3 | 20 | 5 |
Plain |Jalandhar | 33 | 1 | -- | 15 | 7 | 23 | 10 |
(British |Ludhiána | 28 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 7 |
districts)| | | | | | | | |
|Total | 37 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 14 | 7 |
----------+------------------+------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+
|Ráwalpindí | 41 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 2½ | 8 |
|Jhelam | 47 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 1 |
|Attock | 50 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 7½ | 2½ | 2½ |
North- |Mianwálí | 34 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 10 | 2 | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
West |Total Panjáb | 43 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 3½ | 3 |
| districts | | | | | | | |
Area |------------------+------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+
|Pesháwar | 36½ | 16 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 18½ |
|Kohát | 43 | 2½ | 1 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
|Bannu | 49 | 4 | -- | 24 | ½ | 4 | 8 |
| | | | | | | | |
|Total N.W.F.P. | 41 | 10 | 1 | 8½ | 2½ | 5 | 13½ |
----------+------------------+------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+
|Gujránwála | 40 | 3 | 4 | 15½ | 3 | 12 | 2½ |
|Lahore | 37 | 1 | 6 | 16 | 1 | 15 | 4½ |
|Shahpur | 44 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 2 |
|Jhang | 47 | 1 | 2 | 4½ | 4 | 10 | 2 |
South- |Lyallpur | 42½ | ½ | 13 | 8 | 2½ | 5 | 4½ |
|Montgomery | 41 | 1½ | 2 | 13 | 4½ | 17 | 3 |
Western |Multán | 41 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 13 | ½ |
|Muzaffargarh | 44½ | 3 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 7 | -- |
Plains |Dera Ghází Khán | 27 | 1 | 10 | 3½ | 5½ | 5 | -- |
| | | | | | | | |
|Total Panjáb d | 40½ | 1½ | 6 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 2 |
| districts | | | | | | | |
|------------------+------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+
|D.I. Khán N.W.F.P.| 31 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 3 | ½ | -- |
----------+------------------+------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+
|Karnál | 21 | 2 | 5 | 26½ | 4½ | 6½ | 5½ |
|Rohtak | 8 | 2½ | 1 | 34½ | 7 | 2 | -- |
|Gurgáon | 8 | 13 | 1½ | 20 | 12 | 4 | -- |
South- |Hissar | 4 | 7 | 4 | 28 | 8 | 4 | -- |
Eastern |Ferozepore | 28 | 7 | 4 | 31½ | 4 | 8 | 2½ |
Plains | | | | | | | | |
(British |Total Panjáb | 14 | 6 | 3 | 28½ | 7 | 5 | 1½ |
Districts)| districts | | | | | | | |
|------------------+------+------+-------+------+------+------+------+
|Grand total Panjáb| 31 | 3½ | 4 | 16 | 6½ | 8½ | 4 |
| " N.W.F.P.| 36 | 8½ | 3 | 7 | 3½ | 3½ | 16½ |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |
| Millets | | | | | |
|-------+-------| | | |Other | |
| | | Rice |Cotton|Cane |Crops | Districts | Zone
|_Bájra_|_Jowár_| | | | ** | |
| | | | | | | |
+ ------+-------+------+------+-----+------+------------------+----------
| -- | -- | 15 | ½ | 1 | 14½ |Kángra |
| -- | -- | 6 | -- | -- | 32 |Simla |
| 1½ | 1 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 6 |Ambála |
| ½ | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 7½ |Hoshyárpur |
| | | | | | | |Mountain
| ½ | ½ | 8 | 3 | 2 | 11 |Total Panjáb |
| | | | | | | districts |and
+-------+-------+------+------+-----+------|------------------|
| | | | | | | |Submontane
| 1½ | 1 | 3 | 1 | -- | 2 |Hazára N.W.F.P. |
+-------+-------+------+------+-----+------|------------------|Zone
| | | | | | | |
| -- | -- | 9 | -- | -- | 21 |Kashmír and Jammu |
| -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 47 |Indus Valley |
+-------+-------+------+------+-----+------|------------------|
| -- | 8 | -- | -- | | 21½ |Total Kashmír |
+-------+-------+------+------+-----+------+------------------+----------
| 15 | 6 | 1 | 1½ | 1 | 1 |Gujrát |
| 1½ | 1½ | 6½ | 2 | 4 | 3½ |Siálkot |North
| ½ | ½ | 6½ | 1 | 7 | 4½ |Gurdáspur |Central
| -- | -- | 4½ | 4 | 3 | 3½ |Amritsar |Panjáb
| -- | -- | -- | 3½ | 3½ | 4 |Jalandhar |Plain
| ½ | 3 | -- | 2 | 2 | 12 |Ludhiána |(British
| | | | | | | |districts)
| 3 | 2 | 3 | 2½ | 3½ | 4½ |Total |
+-------+-------+------+------+-----+------+------------------+----------
| 17 | 4 | -- | 1 | -- | 3½ |Ráwalpindí |
| 21 | 2 | -- | 2 | -- | 5 |Jhelam |
| 19 | 2½ | -- | 2 | -- | 1 |Attock |
| 19 | 4 | -- | ½ | -- | 4½ |Mianwálí |North-
| | | | | | | |
| 19 | 3 | -- | 1½ | -- | 5 |Total Panjáb | West
| | | | | | | districts |
+-------+-------+------+------+-----+------+------------------| Area
| 1 | 4½ | 1½ | 4 | 3 | 3 |Pesháwar |
| 27½ | 2 | 1 | 1 | -- | 3 |Kohát |
| 3 | 1¼ | ½ | ½ | 1¼ | 4 |Bannu |
| | | | | | | |
| 6 | 3 | 1 | 2½ | 2 | 4 |Total N.W.F.P. |
+-------+-------+------+------+-----+------+------------------+----------
| 2½ | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2½ | 2 |Gujránwála |
| 1 | 1 | 2½ | 9 | 1 | 5 |Lahore |
| 10 | 3½ | 1 | 8 | ½ | 3 |Shahpur |
| 2 | 8 | ½ | 5½ | -- | 13½ |Jhang |
| ½ | 1 | -- | 9 | 2½ | 11 |Lyallpur |South-
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -- | 7 |Montgomery |
| 4 | 8 | 3 | 9 | -- | 8½ |Multán | Western
| 3 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 6½ |Muzaffargarh |
| 9 | 23 | 8 | 6 | -- | 2 |Dera Ghází Khán | Plains
| | | | | | | |
| 3½ | 4 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 8½ |Total Panjáb |
| | | | | | | districts |
+-------+-------+------+------+-----+------|------------------|
| 22 | 9 | -- | 2 | -- | 9½ |D.I. Khán N.W.F.P.|
+-------+-------+------+------+-----+------+------------------+----------
| 5 | 11½ | 4 | 6 | 2 | ½ |Karnál |
| 21 | 14 | -- | 6½ | 2 | 1½ |Rohtak |
| 25 | 5 | -- | 8 | ½ | 3 |Gurgáon |
| 26 | 6½ | -- | 3 | -- | 9½ |Hissar |South-
| 3 | 6 | -- | -- | -- | 6 |Ferozepore | Eastern
| | | | | | | | Plains
| 15 | 8 | ½ | 3½ | ½ | 7½ |Total Panjáb |(British
| | | | | | | districts |Districts)
+-------+-------+------+------+-----+------|------------------|
| 9 | 5 | 2½ | 4½ | 1½ | 4 |Grand total Panjáb|
| 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | " N.W.F.P.|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] In case of Panjáb districts figures relate to _Kharif_ 1910 and
_Rabi_ 1911.
* * * * *
TABLE V _Revenue and Expenditure_, 1911-12.
+-------------------+-------------------------+--------------------------+
| | Income | Expenditure |
| +---------+---------------+--------+-----------------|
| Heads | | Provincial | | Provincial |
| | +---------------+--------+--------+--------|
| |Total in | |Total in| | |
| |Rs. 000 |Share |Amount |Rs. 000 | Share |Amount |
| | | |in | | |in |
| | | |Rs. 000| | |Rs. 000 |
|-------------------+---------+-------+-------+--------+--------+--------|
|Land Revenue |3,47,92 | Half |1,73,96| 47,76| Whole |47,76 |
|Salt | 38,16 | Nil | -- | 4,82| Nil | -- |
|Stamps | 52,57 | Half | 26,29| 1,77| Half | 89 |
|Excise | 64,00 | Half | 32,00| 1,71| Half | 86 |
|Income-tax | 16,22 | Half | 8,11| 11 | Half | 5 |
|Forests | 13,10 | Whole | 13,10| 7,64| Whole | 7,65 |
|Registration | 3,16 | Whole | 3,16| 1,20| Whole | 1,20 |
|General | | | | | | |
|Administration | -- | -- | -- | 18,33|Various |13,65 |
|Law and Justice | | | | | | |
| --Courts | 4,35 | Whole | 4,35| 42,18| Whole |42,18 |
|Law and Justice | | | | | | |
| --Jails | 3,41 | Whole | 3,41| 12,24| Whole |12,24 |
|Police | 1,80 | Whole | 1,80| 58,57| Whole |58,57 |
|Education | 3,64 | Whole | 3,64| 23,27| Whole |23,27 |
|Irrigation-- | | | | | | |
| Major Works | 2,13,08 | Half |1,06,54| 1,36,42| Half |68,21 |
|Irrigation-- | | | | | | |
| Minor Works | 7,99 |Various| 56 | 11,17|Various |1,07 |
|Civil Works | 6,93 |Various| 6,20| 67,90|Various |62,70 |
|Medical | -- | -- | -- | 21,20| Whole |21,20 |
|All other heads[1] | 27,60 |Nil and| 16,21| 56,96| Whole, |41,29 |
| |various| | |various,| |
| | | | | and | |
| | | | | nil | |
--------------------+---------+-------+-------+--------+--------+--------|
Total |8,03,93 | -- |3,99,33|5,13,25 | -- |4,02,79 |
--------------------+---------+-------+-------+--------+--------+--------+
[1] Under Income "Salt," "Tribute," "Interest," "Miscellaneous," and
"All other heads." Under Expenditure "Political," "Scientific,"
"Pensions," "Stationery," "All other items."
INDEX
Abbott, Captain J.; 299, 300
Abbottábád; 302, 303, 355
Adamwahán railway bridge; 46, 283
Adína Beg; 179
Administration, British 1849-1913; 188-195
General; 212-221
Local; 222
Afghán War; 1878-1880 193
Afrídís; 196, 297, 309
Agriculture; 101, 102, 143, Tables II, III, IV
Agriculturists, Legislation to protect; 102
Agror; 303
Ahírs; 230, 231
Ahmad Sháh; 178, 179
Aitchison, Sir Charles; 194
Akazais; 303
Akbar; 172
Ála Singh, Rája; 273, 274
Alá ud dín; 169
Alexander the Great; 161-162
Alexandra railway bridge; 41
Ali Masjid; 356
Alptagin; 168
Altamsh; 170
Alum; 59
Amb; 303
Ambála division; 225-235
district; 233-235
town and cantonment; 347
Ambela; 192, 305, 356
Amritsar district; 249
town; 175, 339, 340
Anandpál Rája; 168
Arains; 242, 245, 248, 252, 279
Aravallís; 50
Archaeology; 200-208
Areas; 2-3
Arjan Guru; 175
Aroras; 105, 106
Asoka; 162, 163
Attock, Fort; 37, 38, 350
Attock district; 257, 258
Aurangzeb; 172, 177
Awáns; 105, 254, 258-260, 299-300
Bábar; 172, 273
Bábusar pass; 301
Baháwalpur State; 280-283
town; 353
Bajaur; 306
Balban; 170
Bánda; 178
Banias; 106
Bannu district; 295, 296
town; 355
Bár; 261, 262, 267
Bára river; 298, 309
Báralácha pass; 12, 236
Báramúla; 40, 357
Bárí Doáb Canal, Upper; 135, 249, 251
Lower; 138, 262
Barnála; 179, 353
Bashahr State; 287-290
Báspa river; 288, 289
Bazár valley; 309
Bein torrent; 45
Bhakkar; 258
Bhittannís; 294
Bhupindar Singh, Mahárája of Patiála; 275
Bhure Singh, Rája of Chamba; 286
Biás river; 43-45, 162, 237, 249, 251
railway bridge; 45
Biláspur State; 288
Biloches; 104, 105, 268, 269
Birmal; 24
Black buck; 94, 95
Black Mountain Expedition; 191
Boltoro glacier; 21
Borax; 60
Boundaries; 3-6
Brahmans; 104, 106, 240
Brijindar Singh, Rája of Farídkot; 280
Buddhism; 114, 115, 169, 236, 289
Bunhár torrent; 254
Burzil pass; 12
Canals; 132-141, 197
Carving in wood and ivory; 154
Castes; 105, 106
Chagarzais; 302
Chail; 29
Chakdarra; 305, 306, 356
Chakkí torrent; 45
Chamba State; 245, 246
town; 201, 354
Chamberlain, Sir Neville; 305
Chamkannís; 310, 311
Chandrabhága river; 2, 41, 286
(see also Chenáb)
Chandra Gupta; 162
Chatar Singh, Sardar; 186-187
Chenáb river; 41, 247, 249, 252, 261, 266, 267
Cherát; 31, 355
Chilás; 36, 301, 357
Chilianwála; 187, 351
Chingiz Khán; 170
Chíní; 44, 288, 354
Chitrál; 196, 305, 307, 308, 356
Chitrál and Dír levies; 313
Cholera; 101
Chor mountain; 285
Chos; 241
Christians; 119
Chund Bharwána railway bridge; 41
Climate; 64-70
Coal; 58
Coins 208-211
Colleges; 125, 126
Colonization of Canal lands; 136, 139, 140, 263
Co-operative Credit Societies; 197, 199
Crops; 146-150, Tables III-IV
Cultivation; 142-150, Tables II-III
Dalhousie, Lord; 188
Dalhousie hill station; 68, 246, 350
Dalíp Singh, Mahárája; 184
Dandot; 58
Dane, Sir Louis; 199
Darbár 1877; 193-333
1903; 333
Coronation 1911; 199, 333, 334
Dards; 107, 108
Darius; 161
Darwesh Khel; 312
Daulat Ráo Sindhia; 183
Daur valley; 312
Davies, Sir Henry; 191
Deane, Sir Harold; 197
Degh torrent; 42, 247
Delhi; 169, 199, 205-208, 224, 225, 325-334
Delhi-Ambála-Kalka Railway; 130
Deodár; 80, 86, 302, 307
Dera Gopípur; 44
Dera Gházi Khán district; 268-270
Dera Ismail Khán district; 294, 295
town and cantonment; 355
Dharmsála; 68, 238, 348
Dhauladhár; 16
Dhúnds; 256
Dír; 305-307
Domel; 40
Dorah pass; 22
Dor river; 299, 301
Dost Muhammad, Amír; 184
Drishaks; 270
Dujána State; 283
Dungagalí; 355
Durand, Colonel; 194
Durand, Sir Henry; 191
Durand Line; 4, 196, 306, 307, 308
Earthquake of; 1905 197
Education; 119, 121-126
Edwardes, Sir Herbert; 186
Edwardesábád; 355
Egerton, Sir Robert; 191
Ekbhai mountain; 27
Ethnology; 109, 110
Expenditure, Provincial; 219-220, Table V
Exports and Imports; 159
Factories; 156, 157
Famines; 195, 227
Farídkot State; 244, 280
Fateh Singh, Sardár of Kapúrthala; 279
Fauna; 90-95
Ferozepore district; 243-245
railway bridge; 46
town and cantonment; 349
Ferozesháh, battle of; 186, 244, 349
Fever, mortality from; 100, 101
Finance; 219-222
Fitzpatrick, Sir Dennis; 195
Flora; 71-85
Fluctuating assessments; 221
Forests; 86-89
Fort Lockhart; 355
Fort Munro; 27, 270
Fossils; 53, 55-57
Fotulá; 12
Gaddís; 236
Gajpat Singh, Sardár of Jind; 276
Game; 91-95
Gandamak, treaty of; 193
Gandgarh hills; 302
Ghagar torrent; 46, 47, 227, 231, 233
Ghaibana Sir; 31
Ghakkhars; 168, 169, 254, 256, 300
Ghaznevide raids; 168
Giandári hill; 27
Gilgit; 194, 321, 323
Girí river; 235, 285, 288
Gírths; 240
Godwin Austen Mt; 21
Gold; 59, 322
Gomal pass; 25, 312
Gough, Lord; 187
Govind Singh, Guru; 177, 178
Granth Sáhib; 175
Grey Inundation Canals; 244
Gújars; 107, 241, 245, 252, 300
Gujránwála district; 249
town; 350
Gujrát battle; 187
district; 252
town; 351
Guláb Singh, Rája; 184, 186, 219, 314, 323
Gulmarg; 357
Gupta Empire; 164
Gurais; 357
Gurchánís; 270
Gurdáspur district; 245, 246
Gurgáon district; 229, 230
Gurkhas; 235, 274, 289
Gurus, Sikh; 173-178
Hakra river; 40
Handicrafts; 152-156
Hangu; 297
Haramukh mountain; 14
Haríke ferry; 44
Hari Singh Nalwa, Sardár; 184
Haro river; 38, 258, 299, 301, 302
Harvests; 142
Hasanzais; 303
Hattu mountains; 288
Hazára district; 186, 298-303
Himálaya; 8-20, 67, 68
Hindkís; 299
Hindu Kush; 22, 23, 305, 307
Hindur; 287
Hindus and Hinduism; 114-118, 119, 120
Híra Singh Sir, Rája of Nadha; 278
Hissár district; 226-228
town; 347
History; 160-199
Hiuen Tsang; 165
Hoshyárpur district; 240, 241, 278
Humáyun; 172
Hunza town; 357
Hunza and Nagar; 323
Hunza-Nagar levies; 313
war; 194, 195
Ibbetson, Sir Denzil; 197, 198
Imperial Service troops; 276, 277, 279, 283
Income and Expenditure; 219, 286, Table V
Indus river; 34-39, 260, 270, 281, 296, 300, 302
Inundation Canals; 139, 262, 267
Islámábád; 358
Jagatjít Singh, Mahárája of Kapúrthala; 279
Jahángír; 173, 175, 208
Jains; 280
Jalandhar district; 241, 242
town and cantonment; 349
Jalandhara kingdom; 241
Jálkot; 36
Jammu State; 107, 314-317
town; 358
Jamna river; 48, 49
Jamna Western Canal; 133, 135
Jamrúd; 356
Janjúas; 254
Jassa Singh, Ahluwáha Sardár; 279
Jats; 103, 104, 234, 240, 242, 245, 248, 249, 252, 254
Jhang district; 265, 266
Jhelam Canal, Lower; 133, 137, 138, 261, 265
Upper; 138, 252
Jhelam district; 253, 254
river; 39, 40, 253, 254, 261, 265, 301
town and cantonment; 351
Jind; 271, 276, 277
Joint Stock Companies; 157, 158
Jowákis; 297, 310
Jubbal State; 287
Kabul; 22, 165
river; 23, 37, 298
canal; 140, 298
Káfiristan range; 307
Kágan; 40, 301
Kahá torrent; 270
Kaisargarh mountain; 26
Kálabágh; 38, 39, 295
Kálachitta range; 30, 258
Kalsia State; 280
Kamália; 353
Kambohs; 263
Kángra district; 235-240
town and fort; 168, 171, 183, 349
Kanjútís; 108
Kankar; 60, 127
Kaoshan pass; 22
Kapúrthala State; 278, 279
town; 356
Karakoram; 20, 324
Karnál district; 230-232
town; 348
Kashmír, Early History; 165, 166, 172
Forests; 89
Population; 99, 100, 106, 107
Territories; 2, 12, 14, 16, 20, 21, 193, 314, 324
Kashmírí Pandits; 107
Kasránis; 270
Katás; 201
Káthias; 263
Keonthal State; 287
Keppel, Sir George Roos; 197
Khaibar; 23, 309
Rifles; 308, 309, 313
Khairímúrat hills; 30, 258
Khánkí weir; 195, 310
Khánwáh Canal; 263
Kharrals; 263
Khatrís; 105, 106
Khattaks; 297, 298
Kheora Salt Mine; 51, 351
Khojas; 104
Khosas; 170
Khost; 311
Khowar; 308
Khurmana river; 311
Khushálgarh railway bridge; 130
Kila Drosh; 307, 308
Kirána hill; 261
Kishngangá river; 40, 261, 319
Kohála; 40, 257
Kohát district; 296-298
salt; 57, 58, 296
town and cantonment; 356
Kolahoi mountain; 14
Kúka rising; 192, 193
Kulu; 17, 235, 237, 238
Kunar river; 23, 37, 307
Kunáwar; 289
Kunhár 40, 301
Kurram militia; 313
river; 39, 260, 295, 311
valley; 24, 296
Ladákh; 64, 65, 109, 112, 319-321
Laghárís; 270
Lahore city; 169, 173, 334-339
district; 251, 252
division; 245
railway bridge; 43
Lahul; 64, 236
Lake, Lord; 183
Land Alienation Act, XIII of 1900; 196
Land Revenue; 220, 221
Landai river; 38
Landí Kotal; 357
Languages; 110-113
Lárjí; 43
Lawrence Memorial School; 234
Lawrence, Sir Henry; 186, 188
Sir John; 188-191
Legislative Council; 195, 216
Leh; 35, 64, 65, 358
Leprosy; 101
Liddar valley; 40
Lieutenant Governors; 188-199
Local Self Government; 195, 217, 218
Lohárs; 106, 152
Loháru State; 283
Loláb valley; 40
Lowárí pass; 307, 308
Lower Bárí Doáb Canal; 138, 262, 267
Chenáb Canal; 136, 137, 195, 263, 265
Jhelam Canal; 137, 138, 197, 260
Swát Canal; 140, 141, 298
Ludhiána district; 242, 243
town; 153, 349
Lulusar lake; 301
Lunds; 270
Lurí bridge; 45
Lyall, Sir James; 194
Lyallpur district; 263, 264
town; 353
Macleod, Sir Donald; 191
Mahaban mountain; 36
Mahirakula; 164
Mahmúd of Ghazní; 168
Mahsud Wazírs; 196, 312
Malakand pass; 299, 305, 306, 357
Malerkotla State; 283
town; 354
Máli ká parvat; 301
Malka; 305
Mallagorís; 308, 309
Mamdot; 244
Mamunds; 306
Manálí; 43, 237
Mandí State; 283, 284
town; 354
Mangal; 287
Mansehra; 356
Mardán; 298, 299
Márkanda torrent; 47
Mártand temple; 166, 358
Marwats; 296
Mazárís; 270
Mazhbís; 106
Meghs; 107
Menander; 163, 164
Mendicants; 106
Meos; 229
Metals; 59
Mianwálí district; 258-260
Miram Sháh; 357
Miranzai; 297
Moghal Empire; 171-180
Mohmands; 308, 309
Mongol invasions; 170
Montgomery, Sir Robert; 191
Montgomery district; 261, 262
town; 353
Mudkí battle field; 186, 282
Muhammad Ghorí; 169
Muhammad Tughlak; 170, 171
Muhammadan Architecture; 204-208
Muhammadan States; 280-283
Muhammadans; 118, 119, 252, 262, 291
Muín ul Mulk; 179
Mulráj, Diwán; 186-282
Multán district; 266, 267
division; 262
Multán city; 154, 166, 183, 186, 340, 341
district; 266-267
division; 262
Municipalities; 217
Murree; 68, 256, 303, 351, 352
Musa ká Musalla mountain; 301
Musallís; 106
Mutiny of 1857; 227
Muzaffargarh district; 267, 268
Nabha State; 271, 277, 278
town; 354
Nádir Sháh; 178
Náhan State; 285
town; 354
Nálagarh State; 207
Nanga parvat (mountain); 12
Naráina, battlefield of; 232
Nardak; 232
Nathiagalí; 356
Naushahra; 298, 356
North West Frontier Province; 197, 291-313
North Western Railway; 120-131
Nun and Kun peaks; 12, 324
Occupations; 101, 102, 105, 106, 152-156
O'Dwyer, Sir Michael; 199
Ohind; 37
Orakzais; 196, 297, 309-311
Otu weir; 47
Pabar river; 288
Pabbí hills; 252
Pahárpur canal; 292
Paiwar Kotal; 24
Pakhlí plain; 302
Pákpattan; 353
Palosí; 36
Pángí; 14, 286
Panipat; 172, 179, 232, 348
Panjkora river; 38, 306, 307
Panjnad river; 41, 382
Parachas; 106
Parachinár; 311, 357
Pataudí State; 283
Patháns; 105, 260, 294, 299, 300, 304, 311
Patiála State; 180, 271-274
town; 354
Pattan Munára; 354
Payech, see Payer
Payer; 201, 358
Pesháwar city; 160, 164, 169, 184, 341, 342
district; 298, 299
Petroleum; 59
Phillaur; 46, 243
Phulkian States; 196, 271-278
Pihowa; 232, 348
Pírghal mountain; 24
Pití, _See_ Spití
Plague; 97-99, 100, 195, 245
Population; 96-113
Pottery; 152, 156
Powindahs; 25
Pressure, barometric; 65-67
Punch; 358
Railways; 128-131
Rájput Hill Chiefs (Simla); 288
Rájputs; 104, 240, 241, 245, 248, 254, 288
Raldang mountain; 288
Rámpur ;45, 289
Ranbir Singh, Mahárája of Jínd; 277
Ranjít Singh, Mahárája; 181-184
Ráví river; 41-43, 247, 251, 262, 266, 267, 286
Ráwalpindi cantonment and town; 256, 352
district; 255-257
division; 252
Religions, Kashmír; 114
N. W. F. Province; 114
Panjáb; 114-117
Ripon, Lord; 195
Ripudaman Singh, Mahárája of Nábha; 270
Rivaz, Sir Charles 197
Rivers; 32-49
Road, Grand Trunk; 127
Roads; 127, 128
Rogí cliffs; 45
Rohtak district; 228, 229
Roos-Keppel, Sir George; 197
Rotang pass; 14, 236
Rúpar; 46, 348
Sabaktagin; 167, 168
Sádik Muhammad Khán, Nawáb of Baháwalpur; 281, 282
Sad Istragh mountains; 22
Safarmulk lake; 301
Safed Koh range; 24, 311
Saiyyids; 105, 304
Sakesar; 29, 352
Sakkí stream; 250
Salt; 57, 58
Salt Range ;29, 30, 253, 254, 257, 258, 262
Geology of; 51-53
Flora of; 76, 77
Samána range; 297
Rifles; 297, 298
Sam Ránízai; 306
Sangrúr; 276, 354
Sansár Chand, Rája; 183
Sapphires; 60
Saráj; 235, 237
Sarusti torrent; 46, 47, 231, 232
canal; 47
Sasserlá; 20
Sattís; 256
Sháh Álam, Emperor; 181
Sháhjahán; 173
Sháh Shuja; 184
Sháhpur district; 260-262
Shawal; 24
Shekhbudín; 31, 356
Shekhs; 105
Sher Khán; 170
Sher Singh Mahárája; 184
Shigrí glacier; 236
Shipkí pass; 45
Shooting; 94, 95
Shuidár mountain; 24
Shyok river; 36
Sialkot district; 247
town and cantonment; 164, 350
Siáls; 266
Sídhnai canal; 139, 267
Sikandar Lodí; 171
Sikarám mountain; 24
Sikh Jats; 104, 250, 252, 276, 280
wars; 186, 187
religion; 117, 118
Sil torrent; 258
Simla district; 254
hill station; 67, 68, 342-344
Hill States; 287-290
Sind valley; 40
Sirhind canal; 135, 136, 195, 227, 245, 271, 275, 276, 280
Sirhind, town; 177, 180, 354, 355
Sirmúr State; 285
Siwaliks; 27, 52, 53
Skárdo; 36, 321
Smallpox; 101
Soán torrent (Hoshyárpur); 241
(Ráwalpindí), _see_ Sohán
Sobráon, battle of; 186
Sohág Pára Canals; 262
Sohán torrent; 38, 253, 256
Southern Panjáb Railway; 130
Spití; 55, 235, 236
river; 45, 288
Stúpas; 202
Súds; 106
Sulimán range; 26, 27, 270, 290
Sultánpur (Kulu); 238
Sultánpur (Kapúrthala); 278
Sunárs; 106
Surindar Bikram Parkásh, late Rája of Sirmúr; 285, 286
Sutlej inundation canals; 267
river; 45, 46, 245, 262, 266, 281, 288
Takht i Sulimán mountain; 26
hill (Kashmír); 318
Tamerlane. _See_ Timúr
Tanáwal; 302, 303
Tanáwal hills; 302
Tarkanrís; 307
Tarkháns (carpenters); 106, 152
Terí; 296
Thakkars; 107
Thal desert; 149, 259-261, 262, 265, 267
Thal (Kohát); 297, 311, 356
Thandiáni; 356
Thanesar; 165, 168, 232, 348
Tilla hill; 29
Timúr (Tamerlane); 171
Tirach Mir mountain; 22, 308
Tirah Campaign; 176
Tiwánas; 260
Tochí valley; 24, 296
Tons, river; 48
Torrents, action of; 47, 48
Trade; 159
Traders; 105, 106
Tribal militias; 312
Triple Canal Project; 138, 197
Túmans Biloch; 270
Turís; 311
Uch; 355
Uchiri range; 307
Udyána; 304
Ujh torrent; 42
Umra Khán; 196
Unhár river; 302
University, Panjáb; 125, 126
Upper Bárí Doáb Canal; 135, 191, 247, 249, 251
Chenáb Canal; 138, 139, 249
Jhelam Canal; 138, 139, 252
Swát Canal; 141, 298
Utman Khel; 306
Vaccination; 101
Wána; 24, 196, 312, 357
Wattús; 263
Wazíristán; 312
hills; 24
militias; 313
Wazírs Darwesh Khel; 312
Madsud; 312
Weavers; 102, 152, 154
Wellesley, Marquis of; 182
Arthur; 183
Wells; 143, 144
Western Jamna Canal; 135, 227, 232, 273, 276
Wular lake; 40
Yakúb Khán, Amir; 194
Yárkhun river; 305, 307
Yasín river; 307
Young, Sir Mackworth; 195
Yúsafzais; 299, 304, 305, 306
Zaimukhts; 310
Zakaria Khán; 178
Zakha Khel; 309
Zamzama gun; 187
Zanskár; 320
Himálaya; 10, 286
river; 36
Zojilá; 12
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir" ***
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