Khulna District, 1908
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Khulna District, 1908
District of the Presidency Division, Bengal, lying between 21degree 38' and 23 1' N. and 88° 54' and 89 degree 58' E. Its area, exclusive of 2,688 square miles in the Sundarhans on the south, is 2,077 square miles. It occupies the south central portion of the delta between the Hooghly and Meghna estuary, and is bounded on the north by Jessore District ; on the east by Backergunge ; on the west by the Twenty-four Parganas ; and on the south by the Bay of Bengal.
Physical aspects
The general shape of the District is an irregular parallelogram, and it may be divided into four parts : the north-western portion, where the land is well raised ; the north-eastern portion, from the Jessore boundary down to the latitude of Bagherhat, where the land is low and covered with swamps ; the central portion, also low-lying but now brought under cultivation ; and the southern portion, which forms the Khulna Sun- darbans, a tangled network of swamps and rivers, in the greater part of which tillage is impossible and there is no settled population. The whole District forms an alluvial plain intersected by rivers flowing from north to south ; their banks, as in all deltaic tracts, rise above the adjacent country, and the land slopes away from them, thus forming a depression between the main lines of the rivers. They have, how- ever, with the exception of the MadhumatI, which forms the eastern boundary of the District, ceased to be true deltaic streams owing to the silting up of their heads. The MadhumatI, with its continuation the Baleswar and its estuary the Haringhata, still brings down a great quantity of Ganges water to the sea. The other rivers are connected by numerous cross-channels, and are known by a confusing multiplicity of names in different portions of their courses. The most important are the Ichamati (2), the Jamuna (2), and the Kabadak, which discharge into the sea by the Raimangal.and Malancha estuaries respectively; and the Bhairab, now a tributary of the MadhumatI, though a great deal of its water finds its way into the Bay of Bengal through the Rupsa river. There are no lakes ; but the District is studded with marshes, the largest of which, the Bayra Bil, extends over 40 miles, but has to a great extent been brought under cultivation.
The District is covered by recent alluvium, consisting of sandy clay and sand along the course of the rivers, and fine silt consolidating into clay in the flatter parts of the river plain, while beds of impure peat commonly occur. In the north-west of the District there are extensive groves of date- palms (Phoenix acaulis), especially on the outskirts of villages. The north-east and centre of the District are generally inundated during the rainy season, only the river banks and the artificial mounds on which habitations are situated rising above the water. These elevated embankments are, where not occupied by gardens, densely covered with a scrubby jungle or semi-spontaneous species, from which rise bamboos, betel-nut and coco-nut palms, with a few taller trees, the commonest being the Odina IVodier, and the most conspicuous the red cotton-tree (Bwnbax malabaricutri). The surface of the marshes shows either huge stretches of inundated rice or is covered with matted floating islets of sedges and grasses and various water-lilies, the most striking of these being the makana (Euryale ferox). The forests ol the Sundarbans in the south produce many kinds of timber and an abundant supply of firewood.
The same forests also abound in tigers, leopards, wild buffaloes, hog, swamp deer, spotted deer, hog deer, barking-deer, porcupines, otters, and monkeys. Tigers are very numerous, and their ravages often interfere with the extension of cultivation. Crocodiles are common in the MadhumatI and Bhairab and in all the rivers in the Sundarbans. Snakes of various kinds infest the whole District.
Statistics of temperature are not available. Rainfall commences early, and the annual fall averages 65 inches, of which 6-5 inches fall in May, 12-6 in June, 12-8 in July, n-S in August, 8-8 in September, and 4-9 in October. Serious floods occurred in 1885, 1890, and 1900, but they are less now than they were before the MadhumatI had opened out its present channel and the other rivers had silted up at their heads. A cyclone accompanied by a storm-wave occurred in the Bagherhat subdivision in 1895.
History
In ancient times the District formed part of the old kingdom of Banga or Samatata, and subsequently of the Bagri division of Bengal con- stituted by Baikal Sen. The earliest traditions are, _,. 4 however, associated with the name of Knanja All, who came to the District four and a half centuries ago. He obtained a jagir from the king of Gaur and made extensive clearances in the Sundarbans, where he appears to have exercised all the rights of sove- reignty till his death in 1459. He covered the country with numerous mosques and tombs, the remains of some of which are still to be seen at Bagherhat and Masjidkur. Vikramaditya, one of the chief ministers of Daud Khan, the last king of Bengal, obtained a grant in the Sun- darbans when that monarch rebelled against the king of Delhi, and established at IswarIpur a city from which the District of Jessore took its name. He was succeeded by his son Pratapaditya, the popular hero of the Sundarbans, who gained pre-eminence over the twelve chiefs or Bhuiyas then holding possession of Southern Bengal, but was eventu- ally defeated and captured by Man Singh, Akbar's Hindu general. The present District of Khulna was formed in 1882 out of the Khulna and Bagherhat subdivisions of Jessore and the Satkhira subdivision of the Twenty-four Parganas, and its history after the British accession to the dlwani is comprised in the accounts of those Districts.
Population
The population has grown rapidly since 1872, the figures being 1,046,878 in 1872, 1,079,948 in 1881, 1,177,652 in Population 1891, and 1,253,043 in 1901. The increase is due to a large expansion of cultivation in the south, central, and south-west portions of the District, and a steady but less rapid growth in the marshy country to the north-east, on the confines of Farldpur. There lias been a decrease of population in the north-western corner, and also in a narrow strip of country running from it first in a southerly and then in a south-easterly direction ; in this tract fever is very prevalent. In the northern part of the Satkhira subdivision the drainage is bad, there are numerous swamps, and malaria is always present. The other northern thanas are also low-lying, but though there are numerous marshes, the country is more open ; and there is less jungle, while the stagnant pools and tanks which are so common in North Satkhira are rarely to be seen. Dyspepsia, diarrhoea, and dysentery are common when the river water becomes brackish, and cholera sometimes breaks out in an epidemic form. The chief statistics of the Census of 1901 are given below : —
- These figures exclude 2,688 square railies in the Sundaibans. If this area be
included, the density for the whole District is 263 persons per square mile.
The three towns are Khulna, the head-quarters, Debhata, and Satkhira. There is a large immigration from the Districts of Backer- gunge, Jessore, and Farldpur, which supply many of the cultivators on new clearances in the Sundarbans ; some of these have settled permanently, but many are still domiciled elsewhere. The dialects spoken are Eastern Bengali, or Musalma.nl, and East Central Bengali. Hindus (619,123) and Muhammadans (632,216) are almost equally divided.
The great majority of the Muhammadans are Shaikhs (292,000) and Ajlafs (285,000), while of the remainder the weaving caste of Jolahas (27,000) is the most largely represented. Probably most of these are descended from local converts from Hinduism, and chiefly from the Chandals (Namasudras) and Pods, who still number 191,000 and 105,000 respectively. Of other castes, Kayasths (39,000), Kaibarttas (36,000), and Brahmans (31,000) are the most numerous. Agriculture supports 77 per cent, of the population, industries 11-7 per cent., and the professions i-8 per cent.
Christians in 1901 numbered 1,275, including 1,228 native Christians, the most important mission at work being the Baptist Missionary Society, which has 18 churches and 24 schools, mostly among the cultivating classes in the Sundarbans. The Oxford Mission has a station at Shelaburia on the Pusur, about 30 miles south of Khulna ; and some Roman Catholics at Malgachi, also in the Sundarbans, are visited occasionally by their priests.
Agriculture
The clay land of the river plain (mathial) is most suitable for rice, while cold-season crops, such as pulses, oilseeds, and the betel-vine (Piper Betle) grow best on the sandy clay known as doashia. In the decomposed vegetable deposits of the marshes winter rice of the coarsest sort is the only crop grown. Except in the higher land and in the north of the Satkhira subdivision, partial failure of crops is not uncommon owing to the deposits of salt left by the tide. The south-west of the District suffers especially from this cause ; elsewhere the salt is as a rule annually washed away during the rainy season, and the soil is renovated by the deposits left by the overflow of the rivers. The cultivators in some places put up small embankments, known locally as bheris, to keep out the salt water. It is estimated that 1,343 square miles were cultivated in 1903-4, and that the cultivable waste amounted to 334 square miles ; separate statistics for the subdivisions are not available.
Rice is the staple food-grain, covering 1,213 square miles. The principal crop is the winter variety, for which the reclaimed portions of the Sundarbans are famous ; the soil is here new and unexhausted, and the out-turn is abundant. In the Sundarbans this crop is sown broadcast in the early part of July and reaped in January. Elsewhere it is sown in nurseries during April and May, transplanted about July, and reaped in November and December ; in low lands, however, it is occasionally sown broadcast. Oilseeds, principally mustard, are grown on 100 square miles, while jute covers 14 and tobacco 8 square miles. Date-palms (Phoenix acanlis) and betel-nut palms (Areca Catechu) are also largely grown. Fisheries are plentiful, and fishing constitutes an important industry.
Cultivation is being steadily extended into the shallow' blls which form so marked a feature of this part of Bengal. In the south progress is being made in pushing back the jungle of the Sundarbans, where the new clearances attract cultivators not only from other parts of the J >is- trict, but also from Nadia, Jessore, Faridpur, and elsewhere. There was some scarcity in 1896-8, when Rs. 69,000 was advanced under the Agriculturists' Loans Act ; the annual average of the sums advanced under that Act during the ten years ending 190 1-2 was Rs. 7,000, while the sums advanced under the Land Improvement Loans Act averaged Rs. 5,000 per annum.
There is little real pasture land in the District, and fodder is scarce. Xo attempts have been made to improve the breed of cattle, which is very poor.
Forests
The Forest department administers 2,081 square miles of 'reserved' forests in the Sundarbans, but this area includes 533 square miles of water channels ; large quantities of forest produce are exported to the adjoining Districts. The principal trees are sundri (Heritiera littoralis), pasur ( Carapa moluccensis), amur (Apioora cucullata), keora (Sonnerafia apetala), garan (Ceriops Can- dolleana), and geoa (Excoecaria Agallocha). The minor produce con- sists of golpata (JVipa frutescens), hantal {Phoenix paludosa), nal or thatching-grass, honey, wax, and shells. The gross revenue from the forests in 1903-4 was 3-33 lakhs.
Trade and communications
The chief industry is the manufacture of sugar and molasses from the juice of the date-palm, but for some years it was seriously affected by the competition of imported sugar. The out-turn communications. of sugar ln 1903-4 was 19,000 maunds valued at 1-96 lakhs, and of molasses 68,000 maunds valued at 1 83 lakhs. The earthen pottery, cutlery, and horn industries of KalTganj are of considerable importance. Coarse cotton cloths are manufactured on hand-looms, and are said to be preferred by the poorer classes to machine-made goods on account of their durability ; but the industry is not flourishing. The chief exports are rice and paddy to Calcutta, the Twenty-four Parganas, Nadia, and Jessore ; and gram, pulses, oilseeds, jute, tobacco (unmanufactured), sugar (unrefined), firewood, timber, minor forest produce, pan leaf, betel-nuts, coco-nuts, and fish to Calcutta. The chief imports are raw cotton, cotton twist, European cotton piece-goods, hardware, glassware, sugar (refined), shoes, English liquors, kerosene oil, coal and coke, lime, and tobacco. The chief trade centres are Khulna, Daulatpur, Phultala, Allpur, Kapilmuni, Chaknagar, Chalna, Jalma, Dumria, and Kutlrhat, all in the head-quarters subdivision ; Bagherhat, FakTrhat, Mausha, Jatrapur, Kachua, Chitalmari, Gaur- ambha, and Morrelganj in the Bagherhat subdivision ; and Baradal, Patkelghata, KalTganj, Kalaroa, Debhata, Chanduria, Basantpur, Asasuni, Tala, and Naobanki in the Satkhira subdivision. The principal castes engaged in trade are Kayasths, Telis, Baruis, Sahas, Malos, Baniks, Namasudras, and Muhammadans.
The Eastern Bengal State Railway connects Khulna with Jessore and Calcutta. In 1903-4 the District contained 490 miles of roads, of which only 12 miles were metalled, in addition to 1,031 miles of village tracks. The principal roads are those connecting Khulna with Jessore and Bagherhat.
The larger rivers are for the most part tidal and navigable by large boats throughout the year, and they carry a great amount of traffic Some of the connecting channels form portion of a very important system of waterways connecting Calcutta with the eastern Districts, and also with the Ganges and the Brahmaputra systems {see Cal- cutta and Eastern Canals). The central mart of the Sundarbans is the town of Khulna, towards which all the boat routes converge. The chief route, after reaching the junction of the Kabadak with the Morirchap river, proceeds by the latter as far as its junction with the Betua and the Kholpetua, where it divides into two channels. The large boats pass along the Kholpetua, Galghasia, Banstala, and Kank- siali channels to Kallganj, while the smaller boats enter the Sovnali at its junction with the Kholpetua and proceed to Kallganj by the Guntiakhali, Habra Sltalkhali, Jhapjhapia, and Kanksiali ; the route through the Sltalkhali has been shortened since the opening of the Gobinda Canal, and boats of all sizes now pass through it. From Kallganj the route proceeds through the Jamuna. as far as Basantpur, where it again divides, forming an inner and an outer passage. The outer passage enters the Twenty-four Parganas through the Kalindri river and the Sahibkhali and Barakulia Khals, while the inner passage proceeds by the Jamuna from Basantpur to Husainabad, where it enters a channel called the Husainabad or Dhansara Khal. From Khulna routes branch off north, east, and south ; the chief northern route proceeds up the Atharabanki, MadhumatI, and Garai into the Padma or main channel of the Ganges, and carries the river trade not only of Northern Bengal but also of Bihar during the season when the Nadia rivers are closed. In recent years, the silting up of this route has led to its abandonment by steamers. The eastern route from Khulna passes down the Bhairab, and then by Barisal through Backergunge District to Dacca. The main southern route connects Khulna with Morrelganj.
In addition to the Cachar-Sundarbans dispatch service, which plies from Calcutta through the Sundarbans to Barisal, Chandpur, Narayan- ganj and Assam, there are services of steamers between Khulna and Muhammadpur, Khulna and Binodpur, and (during the rains) Magura and Khulna and Madaripur via the MadhumatI Bil route {see Faridpur District). There is also a service on the Kabadak between Kapilmuni in Khulna and Kotchandpur in the Jessore District, which taps the railway at Jhingergacha.
Famine
The famine of 1897-8 affected parts of the Khulna and Satkhira sub- divisions. The rainfall was deficient in 1895-6, and a cyclonic storm drove salt water over the fields and destroyed the mine young plants. The rainfall was again very short in 1896-7, and the out-turn of the great rice area bordering on the Sundarbans barely amounted to an eighth of the normal crop. An area of 467 square miles with a population of 276,000 was affected, but the number requiring relief never exceeded 16,000. The relief works were closed at the end of September, but poorhouses were maintained till a month later. The total expenditure was 1-74 lakhs, of which Rs. 61,000 was spent on relief works and Rs. 75,000 on gratuitous relief. Apart from this, Rs. 48,000 was advanced under the Land Improvement Loans Act and Rs. 69,000 under the Agriculturists' Loans Act.
Administration
For administrative purposes the District is divided into three sub- divisions, with head-quarters at Khulna, Bagherhat, and Satkhira. The Magistrate-Collector is assisted at head-quarters by a staff of four Deputy-Magistrate-Collectors, and the Bagherhat and Satkhira subdivisions are each in charge of a Deputy- Magistrate-Collector assisted by a Sub-Deputy-Collector. A Deputy- Conservator of forests and two Extra-Assistant Conservators attached to the Sundarbans division are also stationed at Khulna. For the disposal of civil judicial work, in addition to the District and Sessions Judge, who is also Judge of Jessore, two Munsifs and a Sub- ordinate Judge sit at Khulna and three Munsifs at each of the other subdivisional head-quarters. There are in all twelve criminal courts, including the court of an Additional Sessions Judge, who also sits at Jessore for a portion of the year. The most common cases are those arising out of land disputes.
The early land revenue history of the District cannot be distinguished from that of the neighbouring Districts of Jessore and the Twenty-four Parganas, of which until recently it formed part. At the time of the Permanent Settlement, most of the present District was divided into a few large zamlnddris, including portions of the Isafpur and Saidpur estates (see Jessore District). Of 979 estates in 1903-4 with a current demand of 6-9 lakhs, 756 with a demand of 5-1 lakhs were permanently settled. There are no tenures peculiar to the District. Utbandi tenants pay rent only upon the land actually cultivated during the year (see Nadia District). Korfa ryots hold under a middleman such as a ganthidar or jotdar, middi ryots are liable to ejectment after a fixed period, kistkdri ryots are tenants-at-will, while the occupants of jula jama and dhanya karari holdings pay rent in kind. For the whole District the incidence of rental is Rs. 4-3-2 per cultivated acre ; but rents vary greatly, ranging from Rs. 4-8 to Rs. 9 per acre in the Khulna subdivision, from Rs. 3 to Rs. 18 in Bagherhat, and from Rs. 3 to Rs. 7 in Satkhira. Fan and garden lands bring in between Rs. 6 and Rs. 9 in Bagherhat, and between Rs. 9 and Rs. 18 in Khulna, while in Satkhira as much as Rs. 30 is occasionally paid for garden and Rs. 52 for pan land. In a settlement of a small tract which was made in 1 90 1-2 the rate of rent was found to vary from Rs. 2-13 to Rs. 6 per cultivated acre, the average rate being Rs. 4-6-6, and the average holding of each tenant 12-28 acres.
The following table shows the collections of land revenue and of total revenue (principal heads only), in thousands of rupees : —
Outside the municipalities of Khulna, Satkhira, and Debhata, local affairs are managed by the District board, with subordinate local boards in each subdivision. In 1903-4 the income of the District board was Rs. 1,95,000, of which Rs. 1,03,000 was derived from rates ; and the expenditure was Rs. 1,56,000, including Rs. 98,000 spent on public works and Rs. 35,000 on education.
The District contains 13 police stations and 9 outposts ; and in 1903 the force subordinate to the District Superintendent consisted of 3 inspectors, 35 sub-inspectors, 36 head constables, and 394 constables, including 41 water constables and 57 town police. In addition, there was a rural police of 239 daffaddrs and 2,155 chaukidars. The District jail at Khulna has accommodation for 49 prisoners, and subsidiary jails at Satkhira and Bagherhat have accommodation for 47.
In respect of education Khulna is less advanced than would be expected from its proximity to Calcutta, and in 1901 only 6-9 per cent, of the population (12-4 males and o-8 females) could read and write. The total number of pupils under instruction fell from 38,000 in 1892-3 to 34,000 in 1 900-1. In 1903-4 there were 34,000 boys and 3,000 girls at school, being, respectively, 34-7 and 3-4 per cent, of the children of school-going age. The number of educational institutions, public and private, in that year was 1,009, including an Arts college, 91 secondary, 909 primary, and 8 special schools. The expenditure on education was i-8 lakhs, of which Rs. 21,000 was met from Provincial funds, Rs. 34,000 from District funds, Rs. 1,000 from municipal funds, and Rs. 96,000 from fees.
In 1903 the District contained n dispensaries, of which 3 had accommodation for 41 in-patients. At these the cases of 79,000 out- patients and 500 in-patients were treated during the year, and 2,000 operations were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 15,000, of which Rs. 1,100 was met by Government contributions, Rs. 7,000 from Local and Rs. 2,000 from municipal funds, and Rs. 4,000 from subscriptions.
Vaccination is compulsory only in municipal areas. In r 903-4 the number of persons successfully vaccinated was 32,000, or 26-28 per 1,000 of the population.
[Sir W. W. Hunter, Statistical Account of Bengal, vols, i and ii (1875) '> Sir J. Westland, Report on Jessore (Calcutta, 1874); F. E. Pargiter, Revenue History of the Sundarbans from 1765 to 1870 (Calcutta, 1885).]
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
