Barpeta Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts.Many units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Barpeta Town
Head-quarters of the subdivision of the same name in Kamrup District, Eastern Bengal and Assam, situated in 26° 19' N. and 91° i' E., on the right bank of the Chaulkhoa, connected by a cart-road with the Kholabanda ghat on the Brahmaputra about 15 miles away. Population has steadily decreased during the last thirty years, and was only 8,747 in 1901. Barpeta is famous as the site of a sattra or religious college founded by the Vaishnavite reformer Sankar Deb at the end of the fifteenth century. The ground sur- rounding the sattra is considered holy, and is crowded with native huts, huddled together in the most insanitary propinquity. The town has always been liable to flood; but since the earthquake of 1897 the annual inundations have been more extensive, and for some time the prisoners, the treasure, and the office records had to be kept in boats. It contains a hospital with four beds, and a high school which in 1903-4 had an average attendance of 113 boys. Barpeta was formed into a municipality in 1886. The receipts and expenditure during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 10,000. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 9,000, including taxes on houses and lands (Rs. 3,500) and a grant from Provincial revenues (Rs, 2,500) ; while the expenditure was Rs. 16,000, the chief items being conservancy (Rs. 3,300) and public works (Rs. 10,000). Barpeta is one of the few places in Assam where the Assamese have displayed any commercial aptitude. They retain all business in their own hands, and there is a considerable trade in mustard seed and other country produce. The manufactures are not important, but include canoes, earthenware well rings, and artistic gold filigree work.
