Rawalpindi District, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Contents |
Physical aspects
Northern District of the Rawalpindi Divi- sion, Punjab, lying between 33 4' and 34 i' N and 72 34' and 73 39' E., with an area of 2,010 square miles It is bounded on the north by the Hazara District of the North-West Frontier Province , on the east by the river Jhelum, which separates it from Kashmir territory ; on the south by the District of Jhelum ; and on the west by that of Attock. The District as now constituted forms a compact square, with the mountain tract called the Murree Hills jutting from its north-east corner, between Kashmir and Hazara. This range extends southward along the eastern border of the District, forming the Kahuta Hills, which lie in the tahsil of that name, as fai south as Bagham on the Jhelum river, and west to within a few miles of Rawalpindi cantonment, On the west the slope is gradual, but the eastern escarpments run sharply down to the deep gorges of the Jhelum, The five main spurs are known generally as the Murree range, that on which the sanitarium of Murree stands rising to 7,500 feet, Chanhan being very little lower, and Paphundi reaching 7,000 feet at its highest point. These hills form an offshoot of the Himalayan system. The valleys between them are often ex- tremely beautiful , and the higher ranges are covered with a varied growth, the silver fir, ilex, hill oak, blue pine, chestnut, and wild cherry uniting to form dense forests on the Murree and Paphundi spurs, while the lower hills are well wooded with olive, acacia, and bog myrtle. The view looking upwards from the plains is of exquisite beauty,
South-west of the Muiree and Kahuta Hills stretches a rough high- lying plateau, about 1,800 feet above sea-level The northern part of this includes the tahsil of Rawalpindi and the Kallar circle of the Kahuta tahsil. It is drained by the Sohan, which flows south-west, passing a few miles south of Rawalpindi cantonment, below which it is joined by several tributaries from the hills The southern part of the plain, forming the Gujar Khan tahsil, is drained by the Kanshi, a stream which flows southward from the low hills south of Kahuta till near the town of Gujar Khan, and then winds eastwards to the Jhelum The whole of this plateau is highly cultivated, the fields being massively embanked to retain moistuie, while its numerous villages shelter a dense population. The Jhelum nver, which forms the eastern boundaiy of the District, flows heie between precipitous cliffs, which render it useless for irrigation ; and it is only navigable below Dunga Gall, a point 40 miles east of Rawalpindi town
The District lies entiiely on Tertiary rocks The oldest of these are the Murree beds, which run in a nanow band across its northern pait They are composed of red and put pie clays, with grey and purplish sandstones, and are probably of miocene age. These are succeeded to the south by a great spread of Lower Siwalik sandstone, which covers the greater pait of the District and contains a rich mam- malian fauna of pliocene age. It is overlain by the Upper Siwalik conglomerates and sandstones, which occur to the south-west of Rawal- pindi, and at other localities Still farther south the Lower Siwalik sandstone is continuous with the similar beds of the Salt Range *
The vegetation of the higher portions of the Murree subdivision is that of the temperate Himalaya, with a few Kashmir and Oriental species intermingled. At lower levels it is similar to that of the Outer Himalaya, from the Indus valley to Kumaun ; but trans-Indus types, e.g. Delphinium, Dianthus, Scafaosa^ and Boucerosia, are frequent, and extend for some distance into the extra-Himalayan part of the District, whose flora is that of the Western Punjab, but on the whole rather scanty. Trees are mostly planted, and Indo-Malayan species, such as the mango, &c., thrive rather poorly
Leopards are found in the Murree and Kahuta Hills, and very rarely the gural The District is a poor one for sport.
The climate of Rawalpindi is considerably cooler than that of the
] Wynne, ' Tertiary Zone and Underlying Rocks m N -W. Punjab,' Records^ Geological burvev of India, vol. x, pt. in Punjab plains. The hot season lasts only three months, from June to August ; and the nearness of the hills lowers the temperature during the succeeding months, even when there is no ram in the plains. The cold in winter is very severe, and a trying east wind prevails in January and February. The District on the whole is extremely healthy for Europeans, while the natives are robust and of fine physique.
History
The rainfall in the plains is fairly copious, varying from 29 inches at Gujar Khan to 41 at Kahuta, in the hills the average is 53 inches. Heavy winter ram from January to March is characteristic of this Dis- trict, 8 inches or moie frequently falling in the three months
In ancient times the whole or the greater part of the country between the Indus and the Jhelum seems to have belonged to a Turanian race called Takkas or Takshakas, who gave their name Ory * to the city of Takshasila, the Taxila of the Greek historians, the site of which has been identified with the ruins of Shahdhen in the north-west corner of the District. At the time of Alexander's invasion Taxila is described by Arrian as a flourishing city, the greatest indeed between the Indus and the Hydaspes ; Strabo adds that the neighbouring country was crowded with inhabitants and very fertile ; and Pliny speaks of it as a famous city situated in A. district called Amanda. The invasion of Demetims in 195 B.C. bi ought the Punjab under the Graeco-Bactnan kings. Later they were superseded by the Sakas, who ruled at Taxila with the title of Satrap At the time of Hmen Tsiang the country was a dependency of Kashmir.
Mahmud of Ghazm passed through the District after his defeat of Anand Pal and capture of Ohmd. With this conqueror claim to have come the Gakhars, a tribe still of importance in the District. The first mention of them in the Muhammadan historians occurs in the memoirs of Babar, who gives an interesting account of the capture of their capital of Paralah. It was strongly situated in the hills, and was defended with great bravery by its chief Hati Khan, who escaped from one gate as the Mughal army maiched in at the other Hati Khan died by poison in 1525 ; and his cousin and murderer Sultan Sarang submitted to Babar, who conferred on him the Potwar country. Thenceforth the Gakhar chieftains remained firm allies of the Mughal dynasty, and were able to render efficient aid in its struggle with the house of Shei Shah Salim Shah attempted in vain to subdue their country, but in 1553 Adam Khan, Sarang's successor, surrendered the rebel prince Kamran to Humayun. Adam Khan was subsequently deposed by Akbar, and his pnncipality made over to his nephew Kama! Khan. During the flourishing period of the Mughal empire, the family of Sarang retained its territorial possessions, its last and greatest independent chief, Mukarrab Khan, ruling over a kingdom which extended from the Chenab to the Indus.
In 1765, during the total paralysis of the Mughal government, Sardar
Gujai Singh Bhangi, a powerful Sikh chieftain, marched from Lahore
against Mukarrab Khan, whom he defeated outside the walls of Gujrat,
Mukarrab Khan retired across the Jhelum, where he was soon treacher-
ously murdered by his own tribesmen ; but the traitors forthwith
quarrelled over their spoil, and fell one by one before Sardar Gujar
Singh. The Sikhs luled Rawalpindi with their usual rapacity, exacting
as revenue the last coin that could be wrung from the proprietors, who
were often glad to admit their tenants as joint-sharers, in order to lighten
the incidence of the revenue Gujar Singh held the District through-
out his life, and left it on his death to his son, Sahib Singh, who fell
in 1810 before the power of the great Ranjit Singh. Another Sikh
Sardar, Milka Singh, fixed upon Rawalpindi, then an insignificant vil-
lage, for his head-quarters. In spite of Afghan inroads and the resis-
tance of the Gakhars, he soon conquered on his own account a tract
of country round Rawalpindi worth 3 lakhs a year. On his death in
1804, his estates were con Mimed to his son, Jiwan Singh, by Ranjit
Singh, until 1814, when, upon Jiwan Singh's death, they were annexed
to the territory of Lahore The Muriee and other hills long retained
their independence under their Gakhar chieftains , but in 1830 the>
were i educed after a bloody stiuggle, and handed over to Gulab Singh
of Jammu, under whose merciless rule the population was almost
decimated, and the country reduced to a desert
In 1849 Rawalpindi passed with the lest of the Sikh dominions under British rule ; and though tianquilhty was distuibed by an in- surrection four years later, led by a Gakhai chief with the object of placing a pretended son of Ranjit Singh on the throne, its administra- tion was generally peaceful until the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857 The Dhunds and other tribes of the Murree Hills, incited by Hindustani agents, rose in insurrection, and the authoiities received information from a faithful native of a projected attack upon the station of Murree in time to concert measures for defence. The ladies, who were piesent in large numbers, were placed in safety , the Europeans and police were drawn up in a cordon round the station ; and when the enemy arrived expecting no resistance, they met with a hot recep- tion, which caused them to withdraw m disorder, and shortly after to disband. In 1904 the tahsils of Attock, Fatahjang, and Pmdi Gheb were transferred from Rawalpindi to the newly constituted Attock District.
The principal remains of antiquity are described m the articles on
MA.NIKIALA and SHAHDHLRI. The country round the latter place
abounds in Buddhist remains, the most interesting of which is the
Balar stupa.
Population
The population of the District at the last three enumerations was : (1881) 47i,79, (1891) 533,740, and (1901) 558,699, dwelling in two towns and 1,180 villages. It increased by 4-7 per cent, during the last decade. The District is divided into four tahsils, RAWALPINDI, KAHUTA, MURREE, and GUJAR KHAN, the head-quarters of each being at the place from which it is named. The towns are the municipalities of RAWALPINDI, the administrative head-quarters of the District, and MURREL, the summer station.
The following table shows the chief statistics of population in 1901
The most numerous tribe is that of the land-owning Rajputs, who number 101,000, or 18 pei cent, of the total population. Next come the A wans with 39,000 ; after them the Jats, Gujars, and Dhunds, with 35,000, 26,000, and 23,000 respectively. Other important agricultural castes are the Sattis (17,000), Maliars (17,000), Gakhars (13,000), Mughals (13,000), Janjuas (8,000), and Pathans (7,000). Saiyids and Kureshis number 13,000 and 9,000 respectively. The Khattrls (30,000) and Aroras (6,000) are the only commercial castes. Brahmans number 15,000, including 1,000 Muhials , Shaikhs, partly agriculturists and partly traders, 12,000. Of the artisan classes, the Julahas (weavers, 23,000), Tarkhans (carpenters, 17,000), Mochls (shoemakers and leather- workers, 13,000), Kumhars (potters, 10,000), Lohars (blacksmiths, 8,000), and Tehs (oil-pressers, 8,000) aie the most important 3 and of the menials, the Chuhras and Musallis (sweepers and scavengers, 14,000) and Nais (barbers, 7,000) Kashmiris number 18,000. Of the total population, 64 per cent, are dependent on agriculture. Many of the leading tribes, Gakhais, Janjuas, and Rajputs, enlist in the Indian army. Sattis, Dhanials, Brahmans, and Khattrls are also enlisted, and many of them have been distinguished for their courage and loyalty.
The American United Presbyterian Mission was established at Rawalpindi in 1856. It has a church in the town, and maintains an Arts college, a large high school with two branches, and three girls' schools. There aie Roman Catholic missions at Rawalpindi and Murree, and at Yusufpur, close to Rawalpindi cantonment. Native Christians numbered 511 in 1901.
Agriculture
More than 98 per cent, of the cultivation depends entirely on the rainfall. In the hills the rain is abundant, and the cultivation, which is carried on in terraced fields along the hill-sides, is classed as secure from famine , three-quarters of the crops are grown in the autumn harvest. The rest of the District is an undulating plateau, much cut up by ravines. The soil is usually a light-brown fertile loam, the fields are carefully embanked, and the tillage is generally good. The rainfall is sufficient ; and the legularity and abundance of the wmtei rains protect the Distiict from a gram famine in the worst years, while the proximity of the hills mitigates a fodder famine The spring crop is the principal harvest.
The District is chiefly held by small peasant proprietors. The following table shows the main statistics of cultivation in 1903-4, areas being in square miles
The chief crops of the spring harvest are wheat and barley, the aieas under which m 1903-4 were 325 and 18 squaie miles, \vhile in the autumn harvest fowar, bajra, and pulses covered 33, 180, and 50 square miles respectively.
The area cultivated has increased by 9 per cent, since the settlement of 1880-7 The people exercise considerable care m the selection of seed for wheat and maize. Loans from Government for sinking wells are rarely taken, as the country is not adapted for wells.
The cattle are small and not good milkers, and attempts to improve the breed by the introduction of Hissar bulls were not successful. The cattle of the hills are small, but hardy. A fine breed of camels is kept , they are not adapted for riding, but make excellent pack animals. Horse-breeding is popular, and many good animals are reared ; a good deal of mule-breeding is also carried on. The Army Remount department maintains 26 horse and 91 donkey stallions, and the District board 8 pony and 5 donkey stallions A large horse fair is held yearly at
VOL xxi. s Rawalpindi town. Large flocks of sheep and goats of inferioi bleeds are kept in the Murree and Kahuta Hills.
Their is very little irrigation. Of the total area cultivated in 1903-4, only 12 square miles, or about i per cent., were classed as nrigated. Of this area, 2,946 acres were irrigated from wells and 4,870 acies from tanks and streams. In addition, 3,512 acres were subject to inundation from various streams, and the canal irrigation is entirely from private channels taking off from them. Only 1,103 masonry wells weie in use, all worked with Persian wheels by cattle, but there were over 543 lever wells, unbncked wells, and water-lifts
The forests are of some importance, comprising 152 square miles of 'reserved,' 76 of 'protected,' and 249 of 'unclassed' forests under the Forest department, besides 2 1 square miles of military reserve, and about one square mile under the Deputy-Commissioner. The most important are the hill forests of Murree and Kahuta The others are forests only in name, consisting merely of scrub or grass. In 1904-5 the revenue from the forests undei the Forest department was Rs, 455 00 3 and from those under the Deputy-Commissioner Rs. 900.
The District produces no minerals of commercial importance Lignite is occasionally met with in the Murree Hills, and petroleum is found m small quantities near Rawalpindi town Gypsum occurs in considerable quantities, A little gold is washed from the beds of various streams.
Trade and Communication
The District possesses no important indigenous manufactures ; but cotton is woven everywhere, and the silk embroidered phnlkaris of T d Rawalpindi are of some merit. Lacquered legs for communications, bedsteads and oth er pieces of native furniture are made locally, and there is some output of saddles and shoes. The principal factones are the North-Western Railway locomotive and carriage works, where the number of employes in 1904 was 1,455 ; an d the arsenal, which in the same year gave employment to 569 persons. Besides these, there are the Rawalpindi gas-works with 170 employes, 2 breweries with 391, a tent factory with 252, an
iron foundry with 123, and four smaller factones with an aggregate of
150 employes With the exception of the Murree Brewery, all of
these are situated at Rawalpindi town,
Trade consists chiefly m the supply of necessaries to the stations of Rawalpindi and Murree, and the through traffic with Kashmir. The District exports food-grains and oilseeds, and imports piece-goods, rice, hardware, tea, and salt, A good deal of timber comes from Kashmir. Rawalpindi town and Gujar Khan are the chief centres of trade,
The District is traversed by the main line of the North-Western Rail- way, with a branch from Golra junction to Khushalgarh The metalled
roads are the grand trunk road, which luns by the side of the mam line of rail, and the Kashmir road and the Khushalgarh road from Rawalpindi town. These are maintained from Provincial funds, A service of tongas runs between Rawalpindi and Murree, but a railway connecting the two places is piojected. The unmetalled roads, which are all under the District board, are not fit for wheeled traffic, the place of which is taken by pack animals.
Although the District has from time to time suffered from scarcity, it has not, at any rate since annexation, been visited by serious famine, and the hill tahsih may be considered as quite secure
Administration
The District is divided into four tahsih, RAWALPINDI, GUJAR KHAN, MURREE, and KAHUTA, each under a tahsildar and a naib-tahsildar.
The Deputy-Commissioner is aided by five Assistant . , . .
or Extra-Assistant Commissioners, one of whom is in
charge of the District treasury. During the hot season an Assistant Commissioner holds charge of the Murree subdivision, which consists of the Muiree tahsil.
Civil judicial work is disposed of by a District Judge subordinate to the Divisional Judge of the Rawalpindi civil division, one Subor- dinate Judge, and two Munsifs, of whom one sits at head-quarters and the other at Gujar Khan There are two Cantonment Magistrates in the Rawalpindi cantonment and several honorary magistrates in the District. Civil litigation presents no special features The pre- dominant forms of crime are burglary and theft, though murders are also frequent , but serious crime is rare in the hill tahsih ^ and the Muhammadan peasants of the Rawalpindi and Gujar Khan tahsih are industrious and peaceable.
For a long period prior to 1770 the greater part of the Distiict was subject to the Gakhars, They realized their revenue by appraise- ment of the standing crop at each harvest, current prices being taken into account, and the demand (which was generally moderate) being levied in grain or cash by mutual agreement. No revenue was realized from the hill tracts. From 1770 to 1830 the Sikhs pursued their usual policy of exacting all they' could, until Ranjit Singh ordered a moderate assessment to be made. Ten years of good government under Bhai Dul Singh were followed by six of oppression
1 After annexation the hill tracts were summarily assessed, and the demand of Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu (who had been revenue assignee under the Sikhs) was reduced by one-third. In the plains, however, John Nicholson imposed an enhanced demand, based on tbe estimates of the oppressive Sikh officials, with disastrous results. When the first summary settlement of the whole District was made
1 The figures m the paragraphs on land levenue include the tahsih of Pmdi Gheb, Attock, and Fatahjang throughout. in 1851, the people weie heavily in debt and clamouring foi relief. Large reductions were allowed in the demand, and the assessment worked well until the first regular settlement was effected in 1860. This resulted in a fuither reduction of 5-^ per cent , and a more equal distribution of the demand o\ei the villages. The settlement proved satisfactory, and was allowed to run on for twenty years instead of the ten for which it had been sanctioned. A revised settlement, completed in 1885, was based on an alkound increase of 50 per cent, in cultivation. The new demand was 9! lakhs, an increase on the regular assessment of 34 per cent , and it has been realized with ease. During the sixteen years ending 1901 only 8 pei cent, of one year's demand was remitted. In the same period cultiva- tion increased 8 per cent., while prices of staple crops rose 64 per cent. The District again came under settlement m 1902, and the anticipated increase in the demand is i-i lakhs, or 13 per cent The average assessment on c dry ' land is 10 annas (maximum R. i, minimum 4 annas), and on 'wet' land Rs. 3-0-1 (maximum Rs. 5, minimum Rs. 1-0-2) The demand on account of land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 for the District as now constituted was 6-6 lakhs. The average size of a proprietary holding is 9 acres
The collections of land revenue alone and of total revenue for the old District are shown in the following table, in thousands of rupees
The District contains two municipalities, RAWALPINDI and MURREE. Outside these, local affairs are managed by the District board, whose income, mainly derived from a local rate, amounted in 1903-4 to 1-2 lakhs 1 . The expenditure in the same year was i-i lakhs 1 , the principal item being education.
The regular police force consists of 820 of all ranks, including 154 cantonment and 160 municipal police, and 10 mounted constables. The Superintendent usually has one Assistant and 7 inspectors under him. The village watchmen number 664. There are 13 police stations, with 10 road-posts in Rawalpindi town. The District jail at head-quarters has accommodation for 902 prisoners
The District stands second among the twenty-eight Districts of the Province in respect of the literacy of its population. In 1901 the proportion of literate persons was 6-9 per cent, (ir males and i*2 females). The number of pupils under instruction was 5,359 in
1 These include the figures for the three fa/m/r of Attock, Fatahjang, and Pmdi Gheb, since transferred to Attock District 1880-1, 7,603 in 1890-1, and 17, 957 * in 1903-4. In 1904-5 the number of pupils in the District as now constituted was 12,227. Education in Rawalpindi is making great strides. Five new high schools have been opened since 1881, and two Anglo-vernacular middle schools, besides an Arts college maintained by the American Mission. The great advance made in female education is largely due to the exertions of the late Baba Su Khem Singh Bedi, K.C.I.E., who opened a number of schools for girls and undertook their manage- ment. In 1904-5 the total expenditure on education in the Dis- trict as now constituted amounted to i i lakhs, of which District funds contributed Rs. 18,000 and municipal funds Rs. 14,000. Fees realized Rs. 31,000, and the Provincial Government made grants amounting to Rs. 18,000.
Besides the Rawalpindi civil hospital and two city branch dis- pensaries, the District possesses three outlying dispensaries. At these institutions during 1904 a total of 120,456 outpatients and i ,606 m-patients were treated, and 5,405 operations were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 21,000, of which municipal funds provided Rs. 16,000. The Lady Roberts Home for invalid officers is situated at Murree.
The number of successful vaccinations in 1903-4 was 12,546, lepre- senting 22-4 pei 1,000 of the population The Vaccination Act is in force in Rawalpindi and Murree towns.
[F. A. Robertson, District Gazetteer (1895) ; Settlement Report (1893) 3 and Customary Laiv of the Rawalpindi District (1887) ]
