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THE
IMPERIAL GAZETTEER
OF INDIA
VOL. XXI
PUSHKAR SALWEEN
to
NEW EDITION
PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF HIS MAJESTY’S
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA IN COUNCIL
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
190 8
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBUSHFR TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH
NEW YORK AND TORONTO
INTRODUCTORY NOTES
Notes on T ransliteration
Vowel-Sonnds
a has the sound of a in ‘ woman.*
a has the sound of a in ‘ father/
e has the vowel-sound in ‘ grey/
i has the sound of i in ‘ pin/
I has the sound of i in ‘ police/
o has the sound of o in 1 bone/
u has the sound of u in 4 bull/
u has the sound of u in ‘ flute/
ai has the vowel-sound in ‘ mine/
au has the vowel-sound in * house/
It should be stated that no attempt has been made to distinguish
between the long and short sounds of e and o in the Dravidian
languages, which possess the vowel-sounds in ‘ bet ’ and ‘ hot ’ in
addition to those given above. Nor has it been thought necessary
to mark vowels as long in cases where mistakes in pronunciation
were not likely to be made.
Consonants
Most Indian languages have different forms for a number of con­
sonants, such as d, t, r, &c., marked in scientific works by the use
of dots or italics. As the European ear distinguishes these with
difficulty in ordinary pronunciation, it has been considered undesir­
able to embarrass the reader with them ; and only two notes are
required. In the first place, the Arabic k, a strong guttural, has
been represented by k instead of wq hich is often used. Secondly,
it should be remarked that aspirated consonants are common; and,
in particular, dh and th (except in Burma) never have the sound of
th in ‘this’ or ‘thin/ but should be pronounced as in ‘ woodhouse*
and ‘ boathook'
iv INTRODUCTORY NOTES
Burmese Words
Burmese and some of the languages on the frontier of China have
the following special sounds :—
aw has the vowel-sound in 'law.’
o and ii are pronounced as in German.
gy is pronounced almost like j in * jewel/
ky is pronounced almost like ch in * church.’
th is pronounced in some cases as in ‘ this/ in some cases as in
‘ thin'
w after a consonant has the force of uw. Thus, ywa and pwe
are disyllables, pronounced as if written yuwa and puwe.
It should also be noted that, whereas in Indian words the accent
or stress is distributed almost equally on each syllable, in Burmese
there is a tendency to throw special stress on the last syllable.
General
The names of some places—e.g. Calcutta, Bombay, Lucknow,
Cawnpore—have obtained a popular fixity of spelling, while special
forms have been officially prescribed for others. Names of persons
are often spelt and pronounced differently in different parts of India;
but the variations have been made as few as possible by assimilating
forms almost alike, especially where a particular spelling has been
generally adopted in English books.
Notes on Money, Prices, Weights and Measures
As the currency of India is based upon the rupee, all statements
with regard to money throughout the Gazetteer have necessarily been
expressed in rupees, nor has it been found possible to add generally
a conversion into sterling. Down to about 1873 the gold value of
the rupee (containing 165 grains of pure silver) was approximately
equal to 2s., or one-tenth of a £ ; and for that period it is easy to
convert rupees into sterling by striking off the final cipher (Rs. 1,000
= £100). But after 1873, owing to the depreciation of silver as
compared with gold throughout the world, there came a serious and
progressive fall in the exchange, until at one time the gold value of
the rupee dropped as low as is. In order to provide a remedy for
the heavy loss caused to the Government of India in respect of its
gold payments to be made in England, and also to relieve foreign
trade and finance from the inconvenience due to constant and
unforeseen fluctuations in exchange, it was resolved in 1893 to close
the mints to the free coinage of silver, and thus force up the value of
the rupee by restricting the circulation. The intention was to raise
INTRODUCTORY NOTES v
the exchange value of the rupee to 1s. 4d., and then introduce a gold
standard (though not necessarily a gold currency) at the rate of Rs. 15
= £1. This policy has been completely successful. From 1899 on­
wards the value of the rupee has been maintained, with insignificant
fluctuations, at the proposed rate of 1s. 4d.; and consequently since
that date three rupees have been equivalent to two rupees before 1873.
For the intermediate period, between 1873 and 1899, it is manifestly
impossible to adopt any fixed sterling value for a constantly changing
rupee. But since 1899, if it is desired to convert rupees into sterling,
not only must the final cipher be struck off (as before 1873), but
also one-third must be subtracted from the result. Thus Rs. 1,000
= £100 — = (about) £67.
Another matter in connexion with the expression of money state­
ments in terms of rupees requires to be explained. The method of
numerical notation in India differs from that which prevails through­
out Europe. Large numbers are not punctuated in hundreds of thou­
sands and millions, but in lakhs and crores. A lakh is one hundred
thousand (written out as 1,00,000), and a crore is one hundred lakhs
or ten millions (written out as 1,00,00,000). Consequently, accord­
ing to the exchange value of the rupee, a lakh of rupees (Rs. 1,00,000)
may be read as the equivalent of £10,000 before 1873, an<^ as
equivalent of (about) £6,667 after 1899; while a crore of rupees
(Rs. 1,00,00,000) may similarly be read as the equivalent of
£1,000,000 before 1873, and as the equivalent of (about) £666,667
after 1899.
Finally, it should be mentioned that the rupee is divided into
16 annas, a fiaction commonly used for many purposes by both
natives and Europeans. The anna was formerly reckoned as 1 1/2\d. ;
it may now be considered as exactly corresponding to id. The
anna is again subdivided into 12 pies.
The various bystems of weights used in India combine uniformity
of scale with immense variations in the weight of units. The scale
used generally throughout Northern India, and less commonly in
Madras and Bombay, may be thus expressed : one maund = 40 seers ;
one seer = 16 chittaks or 80 tolas. The actual weight of a seer
varies greatly from District to District, and even from village to
village; but in the standard system the tola is 180 grains Troy
(the exact weight of the rupee), and the seer thus weighs 2-057 lb.,
and the muund 82.28 lb. This standard is used in official reports
and throughout the Gazetteer.
For calculating retail prices, the universal custom in India is to
express them in tenns of seers to the rupee. Thus, when prices
change, what varies is not the amount of money to be paid for the
vi INTRODUCTORY NOTES
same quantity, but the quantity to be obtained for the same amount
of money. In other words, prices in India are quantity prices, not
money prices. When the figure of quantity goes up, this of course
means that the price has gone down, which is at first sight perplexing
to an English reader. It may, however, be mentioned that quantity
prices are not altogether unknown in England, especially at small
shops, where pennyworths of many groceries can be bought. Eggs,
likewise, are commonly sold at a varying number for the shilling.
If it be desired to convert quantity prices from Indian into English
denominations without having recourse to money prices (which would
often be misleading), the following scale may be adopted—based
upon the assumptions that a seer is exactly 2 lb., and that the value
of the rupee remains constant at 1s. 4d.: 1 seer per rupee = (about)
3 lb. for 2s.; 2 seers per rupee = (about) 6 lb. for 2s.; and so on.
The name of the unit for square measurement in India generally
is the bigha, which varies greatly in different parts of the country
But areas have always been expressed throughout the Gazetteer either
in square miles or in acres.
MAP
Rajputana . to fate p. 154
IMPERIAL GAZETTEER
OF INDIA
VOLUME XXI
Pushkar.—Town, lake, and place of pilgrimage in Ajmer District,
Rajputana, situated in 26° 29' N. and 740 33' E., 2,389 feet above
sea-level. Population (1901), 3,831, nearly all Hindus. Pushkar is
said commonly (but erroneously) to be the only town in India that
contains a temple dedicated to Brahma, who here performed the sacri­
fice known as yajna, whereby the lake of Pushkar became so holy that
the greatest sinner, by bathing in it, earns the delights of Paradise.
The town contains five principal temples, dedirated to Brahma, Savitri,
Badri Narayan, Varha, and Siva Atmateswara ; but they are of modern
construction, as the earlier buildings suffered severely under Aurangzeb.
Bathing ghats line the lake, and man) of the princely families of Raj­
putana have houses round the margin. No living thing may be put to
death within the limits of the town. A great fair is held in October
and November, attended by about 100,000 pilgrims, who bathe in the
sacred lake. At this time there is a large trade in horses, camels,
bullocks, and miscellaneous merchandise.
Pushpagiri.—Village and hill on the Madras-Mysore border. See
SUBRAHMANYA.
Puttur Subdivision. - Subdivision of South Kanara District,
Madras, consisting of the Utpinangadi and Kasaracjod taluks.
Puttur Tahsil.—Zafntndari tahstl in North Arcot District, Madras,
consisting of the northern half of the Karvetnac.ar zaminddri. Area,
542 square miles ; population in 190r, 170,235, compared with 155,546
in 1891. It contains 340 villages, the head-quarters being Puttur.
Puttur Village. Head quarters of the Uppinangadi subdivision
and taluk of South Kanara District, Madras, situated in 120 46' N.
and 750 \if E. Population (1901), 3,999. The surrounding country
belonged to Coorg, and after the Coorg rebellion of 1837 troops were
stationed here till i860.
Pyapalli.—Town in the Pattikonda taluk of Kurnool District,
Madras, situated in 150 14' N. and 770 44' E., at the foot of a granite
hill, on the trunk road from Bangalore and Gooty to Hyderabad.
2
PYAPALLI
This is the highest town in the District, being about 1,750 feet above
sea-level, and is probably the healthiest station. Population (1901),
3,666. It is {he head-quarters of a deputy-tahsildar. There is a good
travellers’ bungalow situated in a fine tope planted by Mr. Robertson,
a former Collector. The representatives of the ancient poligdrs who
built the town and fort still reside here, and draw pensions from
Government.
Pyapon District.—A sea-board delta District in the Irrawaddy
Division of Lower Burma, lying along the Gulf of Martaban, between
150 40' and 16° 41' N. and 950 6' and 96° 6' E., with an area of 2,137
square miles. In shape it is a truncated triangle, the sides being the
Irrawaddy on the west and the To or China Baklr river on the east,
while the base is formed by the sea-coast, which has a general south­
west to north-east direction. It is bounded on the east by Hantha-
waddy District; on the west by Myaungmya; and on the north by
Ma-ubin. The entire area consists of a vast plain, intersected by tidal
creeks and waterways. With the exception ot some
Physical
very small areas called kondans, the whole of this
aspects.
level is subject to inundation at high sprinc-tides,
and a good deal is submerged throughout the monsoon period. The
kondans are narrow strips of land, about 4 to 10 feet above the level of
the plain, on which the soil is dry and sandy. They are supposed to
be the remnants of old sea-beaches. The rivers are all tidal, and form
the south-eastern portion of the network of waters by which the Irra­
waddy finds its way into the Gulf of Martaban. That river, running
southwards to the sea, bounds the District on the west, except in one
place where Myaungmya District extends east of the stream. It is
navigable by river craft at all seasons of the year. The To river (or
China Baklr) takes off from the Irrawaddy in Ma-ubin District, and
runs in a south-easterly direction, separating Pyapon from Hantha-
waddy. Four miles below Dedaye it spreads into a secondary delta, its
two western branches being called the Donyan and Thandi rivers, both
wide but of little importance. Into the To river itself (the eastern
branch), at the extreme south-east corner of the District, flows the
Thakutpin or Bassein creek, a tidal waterway which gives river com­
munication with Rangoon. In Ma-ubin District, about 20 miles below
the point where the To river leaves the Irrawaddy, the Kyaiklat river
branches off from the To, and flows in a southerly direction, past
Kyaiklat and Pyapon, into the sea. In the latter part of its course
it is called the Pyapon river. A few miles below Kyaiklat the Gon-
nyindan stream takes off from the Kyaiklat river, and flows first south­
west as far as Bogale, where it is connected by various creeks with the
Irrawaddy, and thence almost due south into the sea at Pyindaye,
under the name of the Dala river. Its lower reaches are separated
PYAPON DISTRICT
3
from those of the Irrawaddy by two large islands which are covered
with fuel reserves. Besides these more important channels, the District
possesses countless tidal creeks—the Uyin, Podok, Wayakaing, and
others—which convert it into a maze of muddy channels.
The geological and botanical features of Pyapon are the same as are
noticed under H anthawaddy District. The soil is mainly alluvium
and the jungle vegetation is largely swamp.
The tiger and the elephant are practically confined to the uncleared
areas in the south, where there are also herds of wild buffalo, wild hog,
and hog deer. Crocodiles are not uncommon in the creeks, and turtles
abound at certain seasons of the year on the sandbanks along the
southern coast.
The climate, though damp and depressing, is healthy, and the
proximity of the sea renders the temperature equable. The average
minimum temperature throughout the year is about 65°, the average
maximum 95°, and the average mean about 8o°. One of the results of
the proximity of the Gulf of Martaban is that the winds are decidedly
stronger than farther inland. The country enjoys a regular and
copious rainfall, rather in excess of the mean for the delta. The
annual average is about 95 inches, decreasing towards the north in the
areas farthest removed from the coast.
The District as at present constituted is of modern creation, having
been taken in 1903 from Thongwa (now Ma-ubin) District, which itself
only dates back to 1875. Until recent times the History
country was a stretch of unreclaimed jungle, the only
indications of an earlier civilization being in the south-west. The
village of Eya, from which the Irrawaddy takes its name, is now an
insignificant hamlet, though it must have been a place of no little
repute in bygone days. Of historical remains there are practically
none. The most ancient and revered pagoda is that known as the
Tawkyat at Dedaye, and even this is supposed to be not more than
a hundred years old.
Owing to various minor alterations in the township boundaries,
exact figures for the population of the area now composing the District
are not obtainable for past years. In 1881 the whole _P ooultation
District formed little more than a single township of
Thongwa, with a population of about 97,000. In 1891 this total had
increased to about 139,000, and in 1901 to 226,443, a rate of growth
exceptional even for Burma.
The distribution according to the Census of 1901 is shown in the
table on the next page.
The only towns are Pyapon, the head-quarters of the District,
Kyaiklat, and Dedaye. The increase in the northern part has been
normal; but in the two southern townships the growth of population
4 PYAPON DISTRICT
has been extraordinarily rapid, reaching 350 per cent, in the sea board
township of Bogale. Its rapidity is due to immigration into the low-
lying waste areas, where fresh land is constantly being brought under
the plough. The influx has been mainly from Hanthawaddy and
Henzada in Lower Burma, and from Minbu, Myingyan, and Mandalay
in Upper Burma; but Indian immigrants are also numerous. Though
the inland portions are densely populated, the southern tracts washed
by the sea have comparatively few inhabitants, large areas in fact being
absolutely uninhabited. Burmese is spoken by 200,000 of the inhabi­
tants, and Karen by 15,000.
<D Number of 0
Township. I*<w3cwcBur 6~OJ £c >trV/o5 0c0c*B •o-- -PZhcc0O~3dx c6cu<«i/5r gOrU<t5Kut gB-u0c g23gia ns0Ho -«Q5c.* £^0hea~> ’JS02Vg«QJ- -Tcau53bj uo<*,j
Pyapon 431 I 15 7 43,922 102 4- 80 16,598
Bogale ‘>057 272 43,756 4 1 + 35° 25,680
K yaiklat . 277 I 394 7V /7° 2 59 + 51 20,100
Dedaye 372 I 312 66,995 180 + 18 J9^552
j
D istrict total 2,i37 3 1 >135 226,443 106 + 63 S i,030
Burmans form 88 per cent, of the total population. Karens, num­
bering about 15,000, inhabit the northern portions, especially the
Kyaiklat township. The Indian population is made up of about 2,100
Musalmans and 6,600 Hindus, and is increasing steadily. The num­
ber of persons dependent upon agriculture is 74 per cent, of the total
population. The number of fishermen is large.
Till recently there have been no Christian missionaries at work,
though a considerable body of Karen converts live in the Kyaiklat and
Bogale townships. The number of Christians in 1901 was about
4,900. Of these 4,800 were native Christians, most of whom were
Baptists.
The soil resembles that common to the other lower delta Districts
of the Province. It is a stiff homogeneous clay, deficient in lime, but
Agriculture admirably adapted to rice cultivation. The greater
part of the cultivated area is inundated, and a con­
siderable portion is but seldom systematically ploughed, the long kaing
grass with which it is covered being cut down and burnt, and the rice
sown broadcast. As the rivers deposit large quantities of silt, the land
in the immediate neighbourhood of their channels is at a higher level
than the interior. During the rains the country consists to a large
extent of vast lakes, in which patches of higher ground appear as
islands. Large areas of land between the main rivers lie too low for
rice cultivation, and remain untilled swamps.