Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/137

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BARD WAN. among

towards the prevalent fever

contributed

127

mineral products of Bardwan consist of coal

Raniganj),

iron,

jungle product

where

it is

is

red limestone, sandstone, and iasar

silk, chiefly

found

the

laterite.

in the

The

people.

(I'ide post, p.

133,

and also

The

principal

Bud-biid Sub-division,

collected by the aboriginal tribe of Bauris.

There are no

large uncultivated pasture grounds in the District, all the available land

being taken up for

tillage.

and wolves, found

bears,

ous snakes are common.

The

wild animals consist of a few tigers,

in the jungly

Among

Raniganj Sub-division.

Poison-

small game, wild fowl and ducks,

peacocks, hares, green pigeons, partridges and snipe are met with. History.

—Bardwan

is

first

mentioned

in

Muhammadan

histories in

1574, in which year, after Daiid Khan’s defeat and death at Rajmahal, his family was captured in the town of Bardwan by Akbar’s troops. ten years later, the District formed the scene of several engagements between Kuttu, the son of Daiid Khan, and the imperialist In 1624, Prince Kharram, afterwards the Emperor Shah Jahan, forces. captured the fort and town of Bardwdn. Soon afterwards, the founder of the Bardwan family (Abu Rai, a Kshattriya by caste) immigrated Henceforth the into Bengal from the Punjab, and settled in Bardwan.

About

history of the District

is

identical with that of the ruling family.

Abu

1657 appointed Chatidhari, and afterwards became a Faujddr The or military commander under the Muhammadan Government. estate rapidly increased in size, and Abu Rai’s great-grandson, Krishna

Rai was

Ram

in

Emperor Aurangzeb. It was in Subah Singh, a Bardwan tdbikddr, raised the standard of rebellion against the Empire, and, assisted by Rahim Khan, an Afghan chief, slew in battle the Raja of Bardwan and Subah captured his whole family, except one son, Jagat Ram Rai. Singh was stabbed by one of the Raja’s daughters, whom he attempted Jagat Ram Rai succeeded his father, and was in turn to outrage. succeeded by his son, Kirtti Chandra Rai, a daring and adventurous man, who largely increased the zam'mddri by adding to it the estates of the Rajas of Chandrakona, Barda, and Balghard, whom he dispossessed He also attacked and defeated Badyaafter conquering them in fight. jama, the powerful Raja of Bishnupur, with whom, however, he afterwards became reconciled. Rai, obtained a farmdn from the

the reign of this

Emperor (1696)

In the beginning of the i8th

that

Marathas, after plundering appearance in Bardwan, encamping at Katwa (Cutwa), and Badyajama and Jagat Rai assisted the Nawab This was no easy task and in the time of the to drive them out. Maharaja Tilak Chandra Rai (1744-71), who succeeded Jagat Rai’s son, the invaders, having laid waste the border principalities, overran the Western Districts,

made

centur)', the

their



Bardwan.

‘

How

can

English authorities,

‘

I

relate to

you,’ writes the

Maharaja to the

the present deplorable situation of this place