English
In 1772, Warren Hastings had given into the hands of the servants of the East India Com¬ pany the general administration of Bengal which had hitherto been in the hands of Muhammadan Nizamat officials, and had removed the Treasury from Murshidabad to Calcntta. The latter town thus became both the capital o Bengal and the seat of Supreme Government. In 1834, the Governor-General of Bengal was created Governor-General of India, and was allowed to appo.D a Deputy-Governor of Bengal to manage the affairs of Bengal in his Rb “ e " oe ' In 1854, a separate Lieutenant-Governor was appointed for Bengal, debar, (See Wilson’s Early Annai * oj ti " English in Bengal Buckland a Bengal under Lieutenant-Governors.”) 3 S The hat-wearing: English dwell in it. They are all truthful and well-behaved. The dwellings are like these, the dwellers arc like those, How far can I detail their praises ? Its streets are clean and paved, The air every morning passes through and sweeps them. In every alley moonlike faces move about, Robed in pretty and clean dresses. Their faces are bright with radiance, like the moon, You might say the moon has become the earth-trottcr. One is like the moon, another is like Jupiter, Another is like Venus in effulgence. When large numbers, like wandering stars, stroll about, The alleys resemble tbe tnilky-waj’. You see, if you go to bazar. The rare goods of the world there. All the articles that exist in four quarters of the globe, You find in its bazar, without search. If I were to depict the people of art therein, The pen would fail to pourtray such a picture. But it is well known to all, [England. That pre-eminence in workmanship pertains to China and Its plain is level like the surface of the sky, Roads are fixed on it, like the equator. People, whilst promenading in gardens, Like wandering stars, meet each other in their walks. Such a city in the country of the Bengalis, No one had seen, no one had heard of. -o- Chandannagor 1 (Chandarnagar) alias Farashdangah, is twelve karoU distant from Calcutta. The factory of the Christian French is situated there. It is a small town on the bank of the river Bhagirati. There is a French Chief there. He is the administra¬ tor of the affairs and mercantile concerns of that town. The English Chiefs have no authority there. Similarly at Qbucharah (Chinsurah *), the Dutch hold authority. 1 Chandanagore, founded as a small French settlement in 1673, rose to mercantile importance under Dopleix in the middle of the eighteenth century. * In the seventeenth century, the Dutch merchants who had hitherto resid¬ ed at Satgion and Hughli ports, founded their factory and port at Chiu- flurah, a little below Hu gh li town. 36 Qiucharah, or Chinsurah, which adjoins the port of Hughli , is to the south of that port, and is one karoh to the north of Chandar- nagor. And similarly Qhirampur (JS'nampur) 1 is on the banks of the same river, opposite to Chanak (Baiackpur). The factory of the Danes is there, and it is also called Dinamarnagar. In these places, besides the owners of the factories, no one else has authority. -o- TOWN OF PlIRNlAH.* In former times it was called Pargana-i-havili. Rupees 32,000 were its revenue collections. Since the Rajah of Birnagar also had a force of 15,0U0 cavalry and in fan try, and other inhabitants of that part of the Chakwar tribe, &e., were refractory and of plundering propensity, and used to annoy much the travellers, therefore on the limits' of the Mnrang, 3 the fort 4 of Jalalgadah, to a distance of two karohs from Purniah, was erected, and a com¬ mandant, in charge of the fort, was posted there. In compliance with the petition of Nawab Saif Khan, s gmndson of Amir Khan the elder, who enjoyed the name and title of his father, and was descended from Syeds and illustrious Omra, and had royal con¬ nections, Nawab .Jafar Khan applied to Emperor Aurangzeb for the former’s deputat : ou, and accordingly Saif Khan was deputed for the purpose of chastising the Rajah >f Birnagar 6 and other nml- * The Dsnes in the seventeenth centnry founded their factory and port at Serarapur, about eight miles sonth of Ch^ndanagorc. * In the thirteenth centnry, Purniah feli into the handB of the Muham¬ madans. Sarknr of Purniah is described in the Ain-i-Akbarl, as containing nine mahals. with revenue 6,408,775 dams (See Jarrett s irans. of Ain, Vol. 2, p. 134). Under its administrator, Nawab Saif Khan, a contemporary of Nawab Jafar Khan, the Viceroy of Bengal, it attained the height of its prosperity. Its manufacture in bidcr works, once so fatnons, was found by mo to have neurly died oat when I was at Pnniiah in 1898. 8 The tract of country between the northern limits of Purniah district and the foot of Nepal Proper is locally known as the Murang. * Huins of the fort still stand. It is now in the zemindary of Mr. i-orbes of Purniah, a few miles to the north of Pnrniah railway station. 8 The Maasn-ul- Uuiara (Vol. 1, Fasc. Ill, pp. 677-687) giveB a detailed biographical sketch of Amir Khan. It mentions Saif Khin, Faujdar of Purniah, as one of the sons of Amir Tbe Maasir calls Am,r — “ Amir Khan Mir-i-MiraD.” Amir Khan's mother, Hamida Banu Begatn. was a grand-daughter of Eminu-d-daulab A$af Khan. 6 Birnagar is now a circle under the Sub-Manager of the Darbhanga J at Purniah. 37 contents of that part of the country. Nawab Jafar Khan, con¬ sidering the arrival of such a person to be an acquisition, conferred the office of Fanjdar of Zila’ Puminh nnd that of Commandant of Jalalgadah upon him, and also settled on him the Pargana of Birnagar alias Dliarmpur, 1 and Gundwarah, which is in the province of Beliar, pertaining to Purniab, and also the niahals of the Jagir forming an appendage to the office of Commandant of the above Fort. The aforesaid Khan, being appointed independent ruler of the district, after much fighting expelled Durjan.Singh. 8 son of Bir Shah, the Rajah of Birnagar, who was disloyal and refractory, and brought the aforesaid pargana under his subjection, and having thoroughly chastised the other malcontents freed the roads from all perils. He represented the state of affairs to the Emperor, and submitted that the mahals were small, and that his stay in this ruahal was unlucrative. In consequence, the Emperor Aurangzeb wrote to Jafar Khan as follows : “ I have sent to you a lion, putting him in a cage. If he‘does not get Ids food, he is certain to give you trouble.” The aforesaid Nawab, who regarded the stay of such a person to be a boon, remitted all the outstand¬ ing reveuue due from him, and made concession in view of the suitable maintenance of his rank and station. The above Khan, following the example of Jafar Khan, imprisoned all the zemindars of that district, and did not omit any means of realising the revenue. So that realising eighteen lakhs of rupees from those mahals, he appropriated them to his own use, and day by day the strength of his government and finances and of his army increased. And making peace with the zemindars of the Murang, he com¬ menced to cut jungles and to bring them under cultivation. Bring- * mg under cultivation half the wastes up to the foot of the moun¬ tains of the Murang, and placing it under his mle, he enlarged his country and his resources. And Jafar Khan, seeing and hearing or it, used to connive. At present, Purniah is a large city, and the nvers Kusi and Sum* pass through it. Its soil is low and full of water. In the rainy season the floods rush down from the moufc- 1 At present each of these forms a police circle. “ nrja “ ar mentioned in the Alamg.mamah. One Bir Singh, Zemindar of Srinagar, is also mentioned in it. “ 0t &Ppe * r me 80 I wn. at Purniah in 1696. The old twee of its fcrafi Peare< i ^ HaVe 801 infc ° com P lete ruin > aud vef v little trace of its former opulence and prosperity existed. 38 tains of the Murang, and the tit-ids and wastes are mandated. Much of the cultivation is consigned to destruction by the floods. Paddy, wheat, pulse and mustard-seed and other food-grains and all kinds of corn grow in abundance. And oil and turmeric and saltpetre, both of water and fire, and pepper, and large carda¬ mom and cassia-leaf and very large trees of ebony, are produced well there. And the flowers of jasmine and bela and the red-rose and other flowers that grow there possess exquisite scents. The mountains of the Murang are six days’ journey to the north of Pur- niah. The Murangi wood, which is called Bahaduri, is obtained from those mountains. From the top of the mountains, the road to¬ wards Nepal and Kashmir is very close, but it is very undulating. Half the mahals of Purniah pertain to the annexes of the province of Behar; but Purniah itself is within Bengal. It is a cold coun¬ try and the climate of that tract is insalubrious and incongeniftl. Tumours of the throat in men and women generally, as well as in wild beasts and birds, are common in that country. Masonry buildings are few, excepting the Fort,' the Lai Bagh, 1 and some others. Formerly. Sarnah was more populous than Purniah. And Gandah-golah (Caragola), 5 on the banks of the Ganges, was the resort of traders and mahajans from various places. OwiDg to cheapness of food-grains and comforts, landholders and travel¬ lers and professional men came from every part, and dwelt there. And very often boundary-disputes led to fightings with the Rajah of the Murang. Saif Khan, every year, used to go to Mu§hidabad for visiting Nawab Jafnr Khan. The above Nawab used to treat him like a brother. Whenever a disturbance occurred in that district, the aforesaid Nawab used to send troops for assistance.