View source for Bengal: Physical aspects, c. A.D. 1900

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This article has been extracted from <br/>

THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/>

OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
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[[Category:India|B]]
[[Category:Places|B]]
''' 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. ''' 

==Physical aspects==
Bengal contains tracts of very different physical features, including 
the alluvial plains of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, and the 
deltas of those rivers, which form the greater part of 
Bihar and Bengal proper ; the crystalline plateau asnect of Chota Nagpur, including the Tributary States 
of Orissa, and the hills stretching to the Ganges at Rajmahal ; the 
narrow strip of alluvium comprising Orissa ; and lastly, a small portion 
of the sub-Himalayas, the Sikkim State, and a tract which once be- 
longed to Sikkim but now forms the main part of Darjeeling District. 

It is thought that there was formerly a continuous chain connecting 
the Rajmahal range with the remains of the ' peninsular system,' still 
in existence in Assam, and that their subsidence was due to the 
same disturbances that resulted in the elevation of the Himalayas. 
The hollow thus formed has been filled in by the fluvial deposits of 
the Himalayan rivers ; but the gradual raising of the surface has been, 
to a great extent, discounted by fresh subsidences, which have been 
accompanied by upheavals elsewhere. However this may be, the 
uplands of Chota Nagpur date from a very ancient period, while the 
Himalayas were thrown up at a time which, from a geological point 
of view, is comparatively recent, and the alluvium in the greater part 
of Bengal proper has been deposited at a much later date than that 
in the Bihar plain west of Rajmahal. 

The sub-province of Bihar occupies the north-western quarter of 
Bengal. It is divided by the Ganges into two parts — north and south. 
North Bihar is a level plain falling very gradually from the foot of the 
Himalayas, and with a belt of fairly high land along the bank of the 
Ganges. Between these two extremes the general elevation is lower, 
and considerable areas are liable to damage by floods. The soil 
consists mainly of the older alluvium or bilngar, a yellowish clay, with 
frecjuent deposits of kankar ; but in many parts this has been cut away 
by the torrents that rush down from the Himalayas, and the lowland, 
through which these rivers have at one time or another found an exit 
to the Ganges, is composed of more recent deposits of sand and silt 
brought down by them when in flood. In South Bihar the effects of 
recent fluvial action are less marked, especially towards the east, where 
the oudying hills and undulations of the Chota Nagpur plateau trench 
more and more upon the Gangetic plain until, at Monghyr, they extend 
as far as the river itself, and offer an effectual opposition to the 
oscillations in its course which the more yielding alluvial soil is unable 
to prevent elsewhere. The Bihar of our administration contains two 
tracts which do not properly belong to it. The Santal Parganas in 
its physical and ethnic features is an integral part of Chota Nagpur, 
while Malda* and the eastern part of Purnea belong to Bengal 
proper. 

The latter sub-province naturally subdivides itself into four distinct 
parts. West Bengal, or the part west of the Bhagirathi, lies outside the 
true delta. The eastern portion of this tract is low and of alluvial 
formation ; but farther west laterite begins to predominate, and the 
surface rises and becomes more and more undulating and rocky, until 
at last it merges in the uplands of Chota Nagpur. Central Bengal, or 
the part lying south of the Padma, between the Bhagirathi on the west 
and the Madhuraati on the east, was formerly the Ganges delta ; but it 
has gradually been raised above flood-level, and the great rivers which 
formerly flowed through it, depositing their fertilizing silt, yielding an 
ample supply of wholesome drinking-water, and draining it, have shrunk 
to insignificance. 

Their mouths have silted up and their banks are 
often higher than the .surrounding country, which they are no longer 
able to drain. East Bengal, or the country east of the Madhumati, 
includes the present delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, where the 
process of land-formation is still going on ; but in the south-east the hill 
range that divides Assam from Burma projects into it, while on the 
confines of Dacca* and Mymensingh* the Madhupur Jungle*, a tract 
ofquasi-laterite, rises above the recent alluvium. North Bengal lies 
north of the Padma and is wholly alluvial, with the exception of the 
Himalayan State of Sikkim, the greater part of the District of Darjeeling, 
and an elevated tract known as the Barind*, similar to the Madhupur 
jungle, which occupies a considerable area on the confines of Dinajpur*, 
Malda*, Rajshahi*, and Bogra*. In spite of its proximity to the hills, 
the general level of the alluvial country is very low, especially in Cooch 
Behar, Rangpur*, and the central part of Rajshahi*; and it suffers from 
obstructed drainage, due to the silting-up of the rivers and the gradual 
raising of their beds. 

The plains of Orissa are a flat alluvial tract of which the centre and 
south comprise the delta of the Mahanadi, and the north has been 
formed by the fluvial deposits of the rivers which drain the southern 
flank of the Chota Nagpur plateau. Behind these plains rises a belt 
of hills, which gradually merge in the rocky uplands of the Tributary 
States. 

Chota Nagpur, with the Santal Parganas and the Tributary States of 
Orissa, belongs throughout to the same geological formation. On the 
whole, the level rises gradually towards the north and west, but some of 
the highest peaks are in the south. 

The main axis of the Himalayas skirts the northern boundary of 
Sikkim, dividing it from Tibet ; but one of the loftiest mountains in 
the world, Kinchinjunga (28,146 feet), lies within Sikkim, and three 
outliers project far into the plains of Bengal. The Singalila range 
strikes southward from Kinchinjunga in 88° E., and forms the boundary 
between Nepal and Darjeeling, its highest peaks being Singalila (12,130 
feet), Sandakphu (11,930 feet), Phalut (ii,8ii feet), and Sabargam 
(11,636 feet), and the connected ranges and spurs covering the greater 
part of Darjeeling District. Fifty miles to the eastward, the Chola 
range runs southward from the Dongkya peak (23,190 feet), and divides 
Sikkim from Tibet and Bhutan on the east ; it is pierced by the 
Jelep La Pass, at 14,390 feet, and separates the basin of the TIsta 
on the west from that of the Torsa on the east. At Gipmochi (the 
tri-junction point of the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet boundary) this range 
bifurcates into two great spurs ; one runs to the south-east and the other 
to the south-west, including between them the valley of the Jaldhaka. 
From Chumalhari (23,933 feet) another great ridge strikes south 
through Bhutan between the basins of the Torsa (the Chumbi Valley) 
and Raidak rivers, terminating in the Sinchula hills which form the 
boundary between Jalpaiguri District* and Bhutan. The sub-Himalayan 
zone is represented by the Someswar hills (2,270 feet), which form the 
boundary between Champaran District and Nepal. 

The Chota Nagpur plateau is contiguous to the Vindhyan system and 
attains an elevation of 2,000 feet. There are in reality three separate 
plateaux divided by belts of rugged hill and ravine ; and a confused 
mass of hills fringes the plateaux, extending in the Rajmahal Hills 
and at Monghyr north-east to the Ganges, and southwards over the 
Orissa Tributary States, while outlying spurs project far into the plains 
of South Bihar and West Bengal. Parasnath (4,480 feet) in Hazari- 
bagh District is the loftiest of these spurs, and the Saranda hills in 
Singhblulm rise to 3,500 feet. 

On the south-eastern frontier a succession of low ranges running 
north and south covers the east of the Chittagong Division* and Hill 
Tippera*. The Sitakund* hill rises to 1,155 feet; but the ranges in 
the Chittagong Hill Tracts* attain a greater altitude, the highest peaks 
being Keokradang (4,034 feet) and Pyramid hill (3,017 feet). 

The most distinctive feature of the Province is its network of rivers— 
the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, with their affluents and distributaries. 
These rivers are of use in many ways. They furnish an admirable and 
cheap means of transport ; they contain an inexhaustible supply offish; 
and they bring down vast quantities of fertilizing silt, which they distri- 
bute over the surface of the delta. The Ganges, which enters on the 
western frontier, flows almost due east, with numerous oscillations, as 
far as Rajmahal, where it escapes from the restraining influence of the 
hard rocks of the Chota Nagpur formation and enters the loose alluvium 
of Bengal proper. Until some 400 years ago, its subsequent course was 
due south, down the channel of the Bhagirathi. By degrees this 
channel silted up and became unequal to its task, and the main stream 
of the Ganges was thus obliged to seek another outlet. In this way the 
Ichamati, the JalangI, and the Matabhanga became in turn the main 
stream. The river tended ever eastwards, and at last, aided perhaps by 
one of those periodic subsidences of the unstable surface of the country 
to which reference has already been made, it broke eastwards, right 
across the old drainage channels, until it was met and stopped by the 
Brahmaputra. The river, below the point where the Bhagirathi leaves 
it, is known as the Padma. 

Having its source at no great distance from that of the Ganges, but 
on the other side of the Himalayas, the Brahmaputra flows eastwards 
through Tibet, where it is known as the Tsan-po, until it reaches a point 
due north of the eastern extremity of Assam, when it takes a southerly 
course and, threading its way through the Eastern Himalayas, emerges 
in the plains of Assam. It then turns westwards and, after traversing 
the Assam Valley, enters Bengal from the north-east. It formerly 
followed the contour of the Garo Hills and, bisecting the District of 
Mymensingh*, joined the Meghna, or the united channel of the rivers 
which drain the Surma Valley and the surrounding hills of the Assam 
range and Lushai. This is the course shown on the maps of Rennell's 
survey in 1785; and it was not till the beginning of the nineteenth 
century that, having raised its bed and lost its velocity, it was no longer 
able to hold its own against the Meghna, and suddenly broke westwards. 
Its new course runs due south from Dhubri and joins the Padma near 
GoALUNDO*. From this point these two great rivers travel down 
a common channel and vie with each other in depositing their silt in 
the eastern corner of the delta, where the land area is now being rapidly 
thrust forward. They discharge into the Bay of Bengal down the 
Meghna estuary. 

Along the northern frontier of Bengal numerous rivers debouch from 
the Himalayas. There are reasons for supposing that formerly, when 
the Ganges and the Brahmaputra were still 150 miles apart, many of 
them united to form a great independent river which flowed southwards 
to the sea, sometimes east of the Barind down the channel of the Kara- 
TOVA, and sometimes west of it by way of the Mahananda. It has 
been suggested that the Haringhata was the original estuary of the 
Karatoya and its affluents, and it is possible that the Bhairab was the 
ancient channel of the Mahananda. Its tortuous course can still be 
traced on both sides of the Jalangi and the Matabhanga ; and it is only 
near the Padma, almost opposite the point where the Mahananda flows 
into it, that all upward traces of this old river disappear. At the present 
time the chief Himalayan tributaries of the Ganges in this Province 
are the Gandak, the Kosi, and the Mahananda, while the Tista — the 
modern representative of the Karatoya — is an affluent of the Brahma- 
putra. On its right bank the Ganges receives the Son from Chota 
Nagpur ; and its ancient channel, the Bhagirathi, which, in the latter 
part of its course, is called the Hooghly, is augmented from the same 
direction by the waters of the Damodar and the Rupnarayan. Farther 
south, in Orissa, several rivers, draining the Chota Nagpur plateau, find 
an exit to the sea independently of the great fluvial system described 
above. Of these the chief are the Subarnarekha, Baitarani, 
BrahmanI, and MahanadI. 

In a level alluvial country like Bengal, where the soil is composed of 
loose and yielding materials, the courses of the rivers are constantly 
shifting ; land is cut away from one bank and thrown up on the other, 
and the definition and regulation of the alluvial rights of the riparian 
proprietors, and of the state, form the subject of a distinct branch of 
Anglo-Indian jurisprudence. 

In spite of the dead level and the consequent absence of variety, the 
scenery of Bengal proper and Orissa has a distinct charm i.A its own. 
Even in the dry months the groves of bamboos and of mango, areca 
and coco-nut palm, tamarind, plpal and other trees, in which the home- 
stead lands of the people are buried, afford a profusion of green vegeta- 
tion very restful to the eye, while in the rains, from the time when the 
young rice seedlings cover the ground with a delicate green sward until 
December, when the golden heads of the mature plants fall before the 
sickle, the landscape verges very closely on the beautiful. In South Bihar, 
the village sites are, for the most part, devoid of trees, and the houses are 
crowded together in inartistic confusion. Except for occasional mango 
groves and the trees on the steeper hills or along some of the main 
roads, there is very little vegetation when the crops are off the ground, 
and the prospect is bare and arid, until the rains cause the maize, 
millets, and early rice to germinate. In North Bihar trees are more 
plentiful, though much less so than in Bengal proper. The Chota 
Nagpur plateau is a tangled mass of rock and forest. The outlook is 
always diversified, and from the higher points magnificent views are 
obtained. 

In their upper reaches the rivers have a rapid flow and carry away the 
soil ; but when they enter the level flats of Bengal proper, their speed 
is reduced, and their torpid current is no longer able to support the 
solid matter hitherto held in suspension. They accordingly deposit it 
in their beds and on their banks, which are thus raised above the level 
of the surrounding country, until at last the river breaks through to the 
adjacent lowland and makes for itself a new bed, where it repeats the 
process. Great marshes or bils are often found within the enclosures 
thus formed by the high banks of rivers. These are generally connected 
with the outside rivers by khdls or drainage channels ; but, owing to the 
tendency of all watercourses to silt up, they remain open only so long 
as the difference of level between the water in the basin and that outside 
is sufficiently great to maintain a flow which gives an efificient scour. 
The natural tendency of these swamps is to fill up ; in the rainy season 
the rivers drain into them and deposit their silt, and decayed vegetable 
matter also gradually accumulates. In this way, but for the vagaries of 
the rivers and fresh subsidences of the surface^ the irregularities in 
elevation would in course of time disappear. 

These marshes are met 
with all over Bengal proper ; but they are especially numerous in the 
south of Faridpur* and the west and north-west of Backergunge*, 
where the whole country is a succession of basins, full of water in the 
rains, but partially or wholly dry in the winter months. The largest of 
these depressions is the Chalan Bil*, lying partly in Rajshahi* and 
partly in Pabna*, which has a water area varying from about 20 square 
miles in the dry season to 150 in the rains. The average depth of 
water during the dry season is about 3 feet ; a tortuous navigal)le 
channel runs through it, with a depth of from 6 t(j 12 feet all the year 
round. In Bihar the number of these marshes is comparatively small, 
and they usually dry up during the cold season. The only lakes, pro- 
perly so called, are found in Champaran, where a chain of them (forty- 
three in number), covering an area of 139 square miles, runs through 
the centre of the District, marking the old bed of some extensive 
river which has now taken another course. 

The largest lake, if such it can be called, in the whole Province is 
the Chilka, in the south of Orissa, a pear-shaped expanse of water, 
44 miles long, with an area varying at different seasons from 344 to 
450 square miles. It was once doubtless a gulf of the sea, protected on 
the south by a barren spur of hills and on the north by the alluvial 
formation deposited by the MahanadI and other rivers. These two 
promontories are now joined by a bar of sand, thrown up by the winds 
of the south-west monsoon, which is steadily growing in breadth. 
Early in the nineteenth century the only opening had silted up, and an 
artificial mouth had to be cut, which still connects it with the sea. 
From December to June the water is salt ; but when the rivers which 
feed it are in flood, the salt water is gradually driven out, and it 
becomes a fresh-water lake. It is slowly filling up, and its average 
depth is now only 3 to 5 feet. 

The process of land-formation, which is active along the shores of the 
Bay of Bengal, forms numerous islands, which tend to join the mainland 
as the intermediate channels silt up ; many of them are, however, still 
separated from the shore by broad channels. Sagar Island, off the 
mouth of the Hooghly, has for centuries been famous as the scene of 
an annual bathing festival, at the point where the sacred Ganges merges 
its waters in the Bay. Dakhin Shahbazpur*, at the mouth of the 
Meghna, is the largest of the islands formed by the silt-laden w:aters of 
the Ganges and Brahmaputra, which have also created Sandwip* and 
Hatia* ; the former was long notorious as a nest of the Portuguese 
and Arakanese pirates who harried the coasts of Bengal in the seven- 
teenth century. Kutubdia* is an alluvial island off the Chittagong* 
coast which has also been formed by deposits of silt washed down from 
the Meghna ; the adjacent island of Maiskhal* has a backbone of low 
hills which rise abruptly from the sea. 

The coast-line of the Bay of Bengal is everywhere alluvial, and the 
harbours are situated up the rivers which until recently carried all the 
commerce of the country. Calcutta, 80 miles from the mouth of the 
Hooghly, absorbs almost the entire trade of the Province, the value of 
its imports and exports in 1903-4 having been 113 crores, or 75 millions 
sterling, out of a total for all Bengal of rather less than 118 crores. Of 
the entire volume of its trade 10 1 crores is with foreign ports. 

Chittagong*, 12 miles up the Karnaphuli river, on the east side of the Bay, is a much older port than Calcutta, but has until lately served 
a very limited area, the principal business having been the shipment of 
jute carried in brigs from Narayanganj*. The Assam-Bengal Railway 
has now connected it with the Assam Valley, of which it promises to 
become the principal outlet. The value of its imports and exports in 
1903-4 was 4 crores or nearly 3 millions sterling. The Orissa ports 
include Balasore, False Point, and Puri ; but their trade is declin- 
ing owing to the competition of the East Coast Railway, and it was 
valued in 1903-4 at only 83 lakhs. 

As has already been stated, the greater part of the plains of Bengal 
is covered by alluvium. Little is known of the hills in the Chitlagong 
Hill Tracts* and Hill Tippera*, except that they are composed of 
Upper Tertiary rocks, and geological interest is confined to the Chota 
Nagpur plateau and to the portion of the Himalayas contained in 
Darjeeling and Sikkim. 

Cneissic rocks form the nucleus of the Chota Nagpur plateau, and 
are fringed on all sides by transition rocks, and freely interbedded with 
micaceous, siliceous, and hornblendic schists. The transition or sub- 
metamorphic rocks form groups of isolated hills in South Bihar, known 
as the Rajgir, Sheikhpura, Kharakpur, and Gidhaur hills ; and similar 
transition rocks are found in parts of Manbhum, Singhbhum, and 
Ranch! Districts. The transition rocks carry metalliferous lodes of 
gold, silver, copper, and lead, but so far none of these have proved 
remunerative. 

Sandstones, shales, and limestones belonging to the Sasaram 
Vindhyan system occur near Rohtasgarh in Shahabad District. 

The Gondwana system contains coal-bearing strata, and is represented 
in the Rajmahal Hills, the Damodar valley, in several of the Chota 
Nagpur Districts, and in Orissa. At the base of this system lies the 
Talcher group of shale and sandstone, and above it the Karharbari 
sandstones, grits, and conglomerates, with seams of coal. This is super- 
posed by the Damodar series, which comprises in ascending order the 
Barakar group, ironstone shales, and the Raniganj beds. The Barakars 
consist of conglomerates, sandstones, shales, and coal ; and above them, 
in the Raniganj and a few other coal-fields of the Damodar valley, there 
is found a great thickness of black or grey shales, with bands and 
nodules of clay ironstone. The Raniganj beds comprise coarse and fine 
sandstones, with shales and coal-seams. 

Laterite (a porous argillaceous rock much impregnated with iron 
peroxide) is well developed on the west coast, and is traced northward 
from Orissa, through Midnapore, Burdwan, and Birbhum, to the flanks 
of the Rajmahal Hills, where in places it is as much as 200 feet thick. 

Gneiss of the well-foliated type, frequently passing into mica schist, 
constitutes the greater portion of the Darjeeling Himalayas ; but sub- 
metamorphic or transition rocks, known as the Daling series, are well 
represented in the Tista and the Rangit valleys, and in the outer hills 
south of Kurseong, while sandstones, conglomerates, and clays, referable 
to the Upper Tertiary period, occur as a narrow band fringing the base 
of the Himalayas. Intervening between the sub-metamorphics and 
the tertiaries there is a thin belt of Lower Gondwana rocks, which 
includes various alternations of sandstones or quartzite, shales, slates, 
and beds of friable coal. 

The vegetation of Bihar and Bengal proper is 'diluvial' : i.e. it is of 
the kind usually found in or near places liable to inundation, and most 
of the species, both wild and cultivated, if not cosmopolitan, are wide- 
spread in the eastern tropics. In Bihar the older alluvium, with mainly 
annual turf, has the crops and weeds of Upper India. Inundated tracts 
near rivers are often under tamarisk. Village shrubberies, except on 
abandoned sites, are scanty, and the forests in the south are open and 
park-like. Bengal proper has perennial turf. Except in the extreme 
north the forests are often mixed with reedy grasses, which are some- 
times replaced by savannahs. The river-beds are wide and often bare. 
East of the Bhaglrathi the country is for the most part a half-aquatic 
rice plain, with patches of jungle on river banks, and shrubberies of 
semi-spontaneous species on the raised ground found near habitations 
and roadways. The marshes, pools, and sluggish streams are filled 
with water-plants. These conditions become intensified eastwards in 
the blls, which are rice swamps in the dry season but become inland 
fresh-water seas with grassy floating islets during the rains ; and still 
more so in the Sundarbans, where the partially-submerged muddy 
islands lying among interlacing brackish creeks are densely covered 
with Malayan shore forest and mangrove swamps. The hills on the 
extreme south-east are covered with forest, Indo-Chinese in character, 
without sal {Shorea robustd), but with giirjan {Dipterocarpus turhinatiis\ 
unknown elsewhere. 

In the north the flora gradually changes from tropical to Himalayan. 
The lower ranges and the tarai beneath are covered with dense forest. 
On sandy or gravelly soils, the sal is the typical tree, while in marshy 
tracts the gab {Diospyros Pmbryop/eris) and other like species are 
found. A similar forest skirts and ascends the hills of the Chota 
Nagpur plateau. The high lands above have a vegetation which 
is mainly of the Central Indian type, but that on the more elevated 
peaks is sub-temperate. The Orissa rice plain resembles that of Bengal 
proper. Except in the delta of the MahanadT, which is occupied by 
a mangrove swamp, it is separated from the sea by sand-dunes covered 
with Coromandel coast plants. 

In ancient times Bengal was the home of numerous wild animals, 
and the elephant, rhinoceros, and wild buffalo frequented the dense 
jungles which ha\t; long since given place to cultivation. I'hese 
animals have now disappeared from all but the most remote tracts, such 
as the Sundarbans and the jungles of Chittagong*, Jalpaigurl*, and the 
Orissa Tributary States. Practically the only large game remaining are 
tigers, leopards, bears, deer, and wild hog. Tigers are comparatively 
scarce, but still do a great deal of damage in some Districts ; leopards, 
deer, and wild hog are common in many parts ; and bears abound 
wherever there are rocky hills. Owing possibly to the absence of suit- 
able grazing, the domestic animals are of an inferior stamp. The cattle 
are small and weakly, and the buffaloes also are a very degenerate breed 
compared with the wild stock from which they are descended. 

Although Bengal is situated almost entirely outside the tropical zone, 
its climate for about two-thirds of the year, i.e. from the middle of 
March to the end of October, is of the kind usually characterized as 
tropical ; it has a high temperature and humidity, and a dry and a wet 
season. During the other months the temperature is much lower, the 
humidity is slight or moderate, and the rainfall is generally scanty. The 
mean temperature during the cold-season months is about 64° and 
during the hot season about 83°. About the beginning of March, as 
the sun gains a higher altitude and the days grow longer, the tem- 
perature increases rapidly. The process is aided, in the greater part 
of Bengal proper and Orissa, by moisture-laden southerly winds from 
the Bay of Bengal, which give a fairly copious rainfall when weather 
is disturbed*, while in Bihar and part of North Bengal hot and dry 
westerly winds are prevalent in the daytime, but die away at night. 
From about the middle of May the south-west wind-current steadily 
strengthens, and, being diverted northwards by the mountain range on 
the western side of Burma, causes increasing rainfall in East Bengal. 
By the middle of June, in normal years, the monsoon has attained its 
full strength, and, flowing northwards, is checked and turned westwards 
by the Himalayan range. The moist current in its northward course 
is the cause of heavy rainfall near the coast and in the eastern Districts. 
Farther west the rainfall is more intermittent, and is due more to the 
cyclonic disturbances which develop at short intervals of two or three 
weeks in the north-west angle of the Bay and in Lower Bengal. These 
invariably move westwards, and in passing over the western Districts 
cause continuous and occasionally very heavy rainfall for several days 
at a time. From the beginning of September the south-west monsoon 
begins to fall off in strength. Cloud and rainfall are more intermittent, 
and are generally due to cyclonic storms, which begin to move more to 
the north and north-east than to the west. Temperature increases owing 
to the longer intervals of bright sunshine. Before the end of October 

' '1 he local hot-season storms are known as ' nor'-westers.' They are generally 
accompanied by heavy rain and occasionally by hail. 
the south-west monsoon has ceased to affect the Province ; and, as 
during the latter half of that month pressure becomes higher in Bengal 
than over the Bay, northerly winds begin to set in. Being land winds, 
they carry but a small amount of moisture, and coming from the colder 
region in the north, their advent is followed by an immediate fall of 
temperature. Hence, during the months from November to f^bruary, 
fine dry weather, with an almost entire absence of cloud and rainflill, 
prevails in all parts of the Province. Occasional disturbances originating 
in, or proceeding from, the north-west of India j)ass from west to east 
over Bengal in January and February. The cyclonic winds which they 
cause are followed by the formation of general cloud, with irregular, but 
at times heavy, rainfall. 

Excluding the Darjeeling hills, where the mountain slopes cause an 
annual rainfall varying from 209 inches at Buxa* to 122 inches at 
Darjeeling, the areas of greatest precipitation are in the south-east, 
where the rainfall ranges between 100 and 140 inches. In the rest of 
East Bengal it is between 70 and 80 inches, but again rises in North 
Bengal to 84 inches in Rangpur*, and to between 100 and 130 inches 
in the submontane plains. In the coast Districts of Central and West 
Bengal and in Orissa, where the effect of cyclonic storms from the Bay 
is chiefly felt, the annual fall is generally from 60 to 70 inches, but in 
places it exceeds 80 inches. In the other Districts of Bengal proper, 
and in the east of Bihar, where the influence of mountain ranges and 
cyclonic storms is less apparent, the rainfall is lighter and more uniform, 
being generally between 50 and 60 inches. Farther west it diminishes 
to 45 inches in Chota Nagpur and to 42 inches in South Bihar. In the 
submontane tracts of North Bihar the annual fall varies from 50 to 
55 inches. 

The rainfall depends largely upon local conditions, and the fluctuations 
are irregular; but generally it was very deficient in 1873, in 1883 and 
1884, and in 1895 and 1896. The most marked deficiency was in 1873, 
when the fall was only between 50 and 60 per cent, of the normal. 
Heavy rainfall occurred throughout the Province in the years 1876, 
1886, and 1899; in other years heavy local falls occurred, e.g. in 
Lower Bengal in 1893 and 1900. If the variabiHty be shown by the 
absolute range, that is, the difference between the heaviest and lightest 
rainfall on record expressed as a percentage of the normal, we find that 
it is greatest in the north-west of the Province and diminishes southward 
and eastward. In Bihar it is 108, in Chota Nagpur 87, in Orissa 87, 
in the central Districts 83, and in North and East Bengal about 72. 

One of the most remarkable features of the rainfall of Bengal is the 
occasional occurrence of excessive local precipitation. Thus, on 
September 25, 1899, a fall of 19^ inches was registered in Darjeeling, 
causing numerous landslips and some loss of life. The natural effect 
of a heavy downpour is to cause the rivers to rise and overflow their 
banks, especially the rivers flowing from the Himalayas, which collect 
the rain-water more rapidly than do those in the plains. The most 
disastrous flood of this nature on record occurred in 1787, when the 
Tista suddenly burst its banks and spread itself over the whole District 
of Rangpur*. It is estimated that the direct loss of life due to 
drowning, and the indirect mortality on account of famine and disease, 
amounted to one-sixth of the entire District population. 

In the case 
of non-Himalayan rivers, the liability to damage is greatest where 
embankments have been thrown up to hold the river to its course. The 
effect of these embankments is that the water, which is flowing at a 
higher level than the surrounding country, suddenly rushes over them 
instead of rising gradually, as it would do if there was no embankment. 
Consequently, when a breach occurs, the water pours over the lower 
land beyond and does immense damage. In 1885, and again in 1890, 
when the great Lalitakuri embankment of the Bhagirathi gave way, the 
flood-water swept right across Murshidabad and Nadia Districts for 
a distance of more than 50 miles. 

The Province suffers even more from cyclones, especially on the sea- 
coast of East Bengal, where they often cause an inundation of salt water. 
The most striking features in these cyclones are the great barometric 
depression in the centre and the magnitude of the storm area. These 
two causes produce a large accumulation of water at and near the 
centre, which progresses with the storm and gives rise to a destructive 
storm-wave when the centre reaches a gradually shelving coast. This 
conjunction of adverse circumstances occurs more or less regularly 
at intervals of ten or twelve years. The worst of the recent calamities 
of this nature was in 1876, when a great part of Backergunge* and 
the adjoining Districts was submerged to a depth of from 10 to 45 feet. 

Nearly 74,000 persons were drowned in Backergunge* alone, and the 
cholera epidemic which followed carried off close on 50,000 more. On 
October 24, 1897, Chittagong District* was devastated by a similar 
but more local catastrophe; 14,000 persons were drowned and nearly 
three times that number died of the diseases that followed. Tidal 
waves have more than once caused great damage to the shipping in the 
HooGHLY ; and although Calcutta itself is so far from the sea, it is by 
no means certain that it is beyond the reach of a bore of exceptional 
height and momentum. Great damage is occasionally caused by 
cyclones on the sea-coast of Orissa, and in 1885 a considerable area in 
Cuttack and Balasore was inundated and large numbers of human 
beings and cattle were drowned. 

In the earlier part of this article reference has been made to the 
probability that in the distant past the surface of Bengal had been 
greatly affected by changes of elevation. Small earth tremors are still 
of constant occurrence, and on at least seven occasions in the past 
150 years — in 1762, 1810, 1829, 1842, 1866, 1885, and 1897 — earth- 
quakes of considerable severity have taken place. By far the worst of 
these was that of June 12, 1897. Its focus is believed to have been 
somewhere near Cherrapunji in the Assam range, but it travelled with 
such rapidity that it reached the western extremity of Bengal in six 
minutes or even less. The violence of the shock in this Province was 
greatest in the Districts bordering on Assam, and it was comparatively 
slight west of the Bhagirathi. In North and East Bengal most of the 
older masonry buildings fell or were severely damaged, and even 
in Central Bengal a considerable proportion of the larger buildings 
suffered. 

Some of the older ones collapsed altogether and many others 
were rendered unfit for occupation. In the alluvial tracts near Assam 
numerous long cracks and fissures opened in the ground, and cir- 
cular holes were formed through which water and sand were ejected ; 
wells were filled with sand, and many small river-channels were entirely 
blocked by the upheaval of their beds. The railways in the same 
localities were rendered impassable owing to the damage done to bridges 
and to fissures in the embankments, which in some places subsided 
altogether. The shock fortunately occurred in the daytime and the 
mortality was thus small ; had it occurred at night, the number killed 
must have been very large. The previous earthquake (that of 1885) was 
felt chiefly in the same parts of Bengal, but it was more local ; its area 
of maximum intensity was in the neighbourhood of Bogra*. 

The people of Bengal appear from their physical type to belong to 
three distinct stocks — Dravidian, Mongoloid, and Aryan, Except on 
the northern and eastern outskirts, the main basis 
is everywhere Dravidian ; but in Bengal proper there 
is a strong Mongoloid element, while in Bihar the Dravidian type 
has been modified by an admixture of Aryan blood. Philologists hold 
that the earliest recognizable linguistic formation in India is the Dra- 
vidian. How the people who brought these languages with them en- 
tered India is a problem regarding which we can only speculate. They 
may have come from the north-west by way of Arabia, where (if so) the 
subsequent intrusion of a Semitic race has since obliterated all trace of 
them ; or they may, more probably, have come from the south in 
the prehistoric time when it is thought that India was connected with 
Madagascar by a land area, known to naturalists as Lemuria, which 
subsequently broke up and sank beneath the sea, leaving as its only 
trace several huge shoals and a chain of islands, including the Seychelles, 
Chagos Islands, the Laccadives and Maldives. 

Dravidian languages still 
survive, not only in Southern India, where Tamil and 'J'elugu are its 
leading representatives, but also in the Chota Nagpur plateau, where they 
are spoken by the Oraon, Male, and other tribes. Bengal was next over- 
run, as far as Bihar and Chota Nagpur, by tribes speaking languages of 
the family known as Mon-Anam or Mon-Khmer, which is still extant in 
Pegu, Cambodia, and Cochin China. These tribes probably came from the 
north-east by way of the Patkai pass and the valley of the Brahmaputra. 
The only dialect of this family which survives in Assam is the Khasi ; 
in Bengal not a single representative is left, but indications of its former 
existence are perhaps disclosed by the Munda family of languages^. 

These invaders from the north-east were followed by fresh hordes from 
the same direction, whose speech was of the type known as Tibeto- 
Burman, of which Tibetan and Burmese represent the two standards 
to which the other and ruder dialects tend to conform, and which is 
believed to have had its origin in Eastern Tibet or in adjacent territory 
now Chinese. The earliest of these later incomers were probably the 
ancestors of the Pods of Central and the Chandals of East Bengal, who 
have long since abandoned their characteristic dialects, while the latest 
were the Kochs, Mechs, and Garos, many of whom still retain their tribal 
forms of speech. The Aryan invasion from the north-west, which took 
place while the incursions of Mongoloid tribes from the north-east were 
still in progress, was the last notable movement so far as this Province 
is concerned. Bihar was the seat of rule of Aryan princes, but in 
Bengal proper the stream of immigration was comparatively thin and 
attenuated. As the Aryan invasion spread, its character changed, 
and arms gave way to arts. Aryan priests, adventurers, merchants, and 
artificers found their way over and beyond Bengal, and by their superior 
intelligence and culture gradually imposed their religion and language 
on people whom they had never conquered, and sometimes even 
snatched the crown from the indigenous ruling families.
=See also=
For a large number of articles about Bengal, extracted from the Gazetteer of 1908 (as well as other articles on Bengal) please either click the 'India' link (below, left) and go to Bengal (under B) or enter 'Bengal' in the 'Search' box (top, right).
[[Bengal, 1908]]
[[Bengal: A history, by British Raj writers ]]
[[Bengal: Agriculture in A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Arts and manufactures, 1908 ]]
[[Bengal: Commerce and trade, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Famines, 1769-1899 ]]
[[Bengal: Forests, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Mines and minerals, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Physical aspects, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Population, A.D. 1901]]