Table Of Content

- 1- ! Room The Class State Archives I Library, . \ PATNA Almirah Branch - Shelf Division •.. 17k > Stock NOe2 ARCHIVES LIBRARY. THIS BOOK WAS TAKEN FROM. THE LIBRARY ON THE DATE OF LAST STAMPED. II Date of issue. Date of returu. \ Date of issue. Date of return. ----.;------ BSP {P-& A.) 62A-Il-6,O 0-3·3·1962-TD3 .~ Gazetteer Qf India : Bihar I PURN·EA ,I , tl \~ - i" I I .... Bihar\ District -Gazetteers , . ! I ; PURNEA By P. C. ROY CHAUDHURY, M.A., B.L., Special Office?") Gazetteer Revision Section, Revenue Department) Bihar) Patna. / PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT SECRETARIAT PRESS, BIHAR, PATNA 1963 '-Rupees Ten only.] , / PREFACE. The first District Gazetteer of Purnea by L. S. S. O'Malley, I.c.s.~ was published in 19 11. .., The State Government of Bihar in the Revenue Department have undertaken the work of re-writing and publishing District // is Gazetteers. In ~he last few decades there had been very many basic changes in the district and the country. The old series of District Gazetteers had a very limited objective ~nd were meant more Qr less to be the administrators' handbook. vVith the independence of the country the very character of the State Government has changed. The old District Gazetteer of PtL1'nea even if available is of little use now. The Ministry of Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs has recently taken up the work of publishing four Central volumes I for India (in place of the Old Imperial Gazetteers) and in consultation with the State Governments has drawn up a general plan to be followed as far as possible by the States for their District Gazetteers. The State Government of Bihar have agreed to work in collaboration with the Ministry of Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs. This re-written District Gazetteer of Purnea is my 10th publication in the new series. The re-written District Gazetteers of Hazaribagh, Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Singhbhum, Saran, Champaran, Monghyr, Palamau and Bhagalpur have already been published. In the last three we have followed India's plan. The work of re-writing the Dist-rict Gazettee1' of Purnea has its own difficulties. Although there have been recently Survey and Settlement Operations, the Final Report has not yet been published. No comprehensive socio-economic survey of the district has been undertaken. Portions of the district have' gone over to West Bengal in implementation of the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Commission. The Annual Administrative Reports are not always published now. The march of events has been extremely rapid in the last three decades and the very face of the district has been changed. Officers in key positions have their own problems which leave them little leisure to give active collaboration in a task of this type. In my task of re-writing the District Gazettee-r of Pu-rnea I have been immensely profited by my long association with the 2 district. I was posted to th~ ~i~trict in 1 ?33: .Since ~hen I ha."e had the opportunity of re-vIsItmg the. dIstrIct m varIOUS officIal capacity. Some of the older generatIon who ar~ permanen~ residents of Purnea like Raja P. C. Lal of NazarganJ, Mr. Satkan Dey, Advocate, the late Mr. Johnstone, H. M. Weatherall, et~" have helped me considerably in my work. Old Records ll1 Purnea Collectorate were looked into by me and some of the materials collected on them were utilised. Institutions like National Archives, New Delhi,~ National Library, Calcutta, Asiatic Society of Bengal have continued giving me their valuable help as before. . They have ungrudgingly allowed me loan of rare books and study in their Archives. For the later events I have had help from various books, Census' reports, manuscripts and data collected from collaborators, personal investigations and research. It is only by the pooling of resources, personal contacts, extensive tours, observation' and study that a book of this type could be compiled. I am particularly grateful to Pandit Binodanand Jha, Chief Minister 9f Bihar, Shri Mahe h Pra ad J. Sinha, Revenue Minister, and Shri .S. Mazumdar, I.e. Chicl 'J Secretary. They have always taken keen interest in this work and have given me all possible help and encouragement. My th~nk~ are due to the Central Gazetteer Unit in the Ministry o[ SClentl~c Research and Cultural Affairs for. giving some valuable suggestIOns on the' texts. Shri Bhola Shastri Minister in the Bihar Government comes from Purnea district and the Editor had some very helpful di~cussions with him. , I have tri~~ ~o provi~e an objective book for a wide range of readers, pohtIcIans, wrIters, schol;:trs, administrators, tourists a~d by no means the least, the interested man in the street. It wIll be a privilege if the book is of some help to the readers of the present and coming generation. 1 PATNA: 5 P. C. ROY CHAUDHURY. The 1st October 1962 II PLAN OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGES. I-GENERAL 1-63 II-HISTORY 64-113 III-PEOPLE 114-178 IV-AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION 179-226 V-INDUSTRIES 227-269 VI-JUTE 270-285 VII-BANKING, TRADE AND COMMERCE 286-336 VIII -COMMUNICATIONS 337-385 IX-EcONOMIC TRENDS 386-455 X-GENERAL ADMINISTRATION 456-488 XI-LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION 489-530 I XII-LAW, ORDER AND JUSTICE 531-551 XIII-LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 552-590 XIV-EDUCATION AND CULTU~ 591-629 XV-MEDICAL ·AND PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES 630-661 XVI-OTHER SOCIAL SERVICES 662-677 XVII-PUBLIC LIFE AND ' VOLUNTARY SOCIAL 678-690 SERVICE ORGANISATIONS. XVIII-PLACES OF INTEREST - 691-795 APPENDIX. I .. 796 APPENDIX II .. 797-799 800-815 ENCLOSURE 816-822 GLOSSARY i-v INDEX I I CHAPTER I. GENERAL. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Purnea district, as at present (1960) constituted, is roughly a square in shape, of which the side is about sixty-six miles. It is bounded on the north by Nepal and part of Darjeeling district of West Bengal; on the east by the districts of West Dinajpur and MaIda of West Bengal, on the south by the districts of Bhagalpur, San thai Parganas and Maldah (West Bengal) and on the west by Saharsa. It is the most easterly district of the State. Before States Reorganisation in India (1956), Purnea was contiguous to East Pakistan. Purnea forms the north-eastern portion of the Bhagalpur Division, being situated between ~OO 15' and 200 35' north latitude and between 87(J 0' and 880"' 32' east longitude. The population of the district as at the census of 190] was 18,74,794 and the population at the census of 1951 was 25,25,231, there being an increase of 6,50,437 people sin.ce 1901. The reasons for this heavy growth in the population are partIy the influx of the displaced persons from the East Bengal (East Pakistan) and partly the changes in the geological conditions of the district, the changes in the beds of rivers Kosi and Kankai and the old beds now coming under cultivation and being inhabit able. But as an effect of the transfer of six thanas from the district to West Bengal on the 1st November, 1956, as a result of the States Reorganisation, viz., Karandighi, Kishanganj, Golpokhar, Islampur, Chopra and Thakurganj, the population has decreased to 22,47,943, there being a transfer of 2,77,288 people. Details of the transfer of an area of 759 square miles are given later. The last District Gazetteer of Purnea district was published in 1911 being compiled by Mr. L. S. S. O'Malley. In 1912 Bihar and Orissa were carved as a separate province out of the old Bengal Province, and Purnea became a district of the new provincial unit. The area mentioned in the old District Gazetteer 1 14 Rev. 2 PURNEA of 1911 was 4,994 square 'miles, but as an eff:ct ?f t?e transfer of 759 square miles the present area of the district IS 4,239 square miles. The slight difference may be ignored. FORMATION OF THE DISTRICT. Buchanan Hamilton, the first historio-geographer of India, visited Purnea in 1809-10 and has left us a good account of his travels. His memoirs were published by the Bihar and Orissa Research Society in 1928 and form a good source book. Buchanan, however, did not give details of local administration. The district took its present form about 1813, when MaIda district was first established. In 1869 a transfer was made to Bhagalpur of parts of Parganas Harawat and Dhaphar. A very rare book "Statistics of the Lower Provinces of Bengal. for 1868-69" printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press was published in 1872 as Board's Return no. 41B. It will be interesting to take some facts and figures from this book in order to show some or the features of Purnea district at that time. The boundaries according to this book of Purnea district were on the north by Subtree Morung and British Sikim, east by Rungpore, Dinagepore and Maldah, south by Ganges and West by Bhaugulpore. The most recent survey was Thakbust and Revenue from 1840 to 184 7 a~d the Ganges frontage was re-surveyed under Act IX of 1847 m 1856-57. The total area in square miles was as follows Cultivated 3,841 . { Culturable Waste 635 U nculturable 742 5,218 The mileages of communications accordino- to this Return were as follows : _ b Water, River.s 660 miles; Canal none, 1st class roads 100 as agamst 634 miles of 2nd class roads. The mileage of 3rd clas~ roads was not ascertained. Against Rail Roads a 1111 return was shown.