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 BENARES. some 22

District for a course of

miles



255

while the

Karamnasa

skirls the

south-eastern border, a heavy stream after rains, but almost dry during hill rivers, to sudden flushes, which produce considerable inundations. The only other permanent water-course is that of the Barna Nadi, whose bed would run dry in the cold weather were it not prevented by a dam thrown across the slender stream about a mile above its confluence with the Ganges. Three small marshy lakes, known as the Baripur, Koth, and Kovvar jhils, occupy hollows in the northern plain. The District has no forests or other waste lands of any importance, every available acre having been long brought under cultivation, and planted with a rich luxuriance

the hot months, though subject, like other

of cereals or sugar-cane



while tiny hamlets

every direction over the face of the country. or saline efflorescence, occur here

tisdr,

but

much

commonly than

in

lie

A

thickly scattered in

few patches of barren

and there among the uplands,

the Districts farther west;

while only to be found along the ravines of the minor rivers. Beasts of prey are consequently rare, but hares, squirrels, porcupines,

jungle

less

is

and monkeys abound lakes and rivers. History

can trace

.

— Although

its



and wild-fowl congregate

numbers on the

the city of Benares, the metropolis of Hinduism,

origin to the very earliest period of

India, yet the

in

District at

Aryan colonization in any

large can scarcely be said to possess

The its own until the middle of the i8th century. and ancient annals of Benares city itself will be found under During the Musalman period, the District was the proper heading. ruled by the Nawabs of Oudh, till ceded with Ghazipur to the British The ancestors of the present Maharaja of Benares had in 1775. already risen to importance under the Oudh Wazi'rs. In 1737, Mansa separate history of antiquities

Ram,

the founder of the family greatness, acquired possession of a

in Jaunpur District, and next year obtained for his son, Balwant Singh, the title of Raja, and the three sarkdrs of Jaunpur, Mansa Ram died in 1740; but Raja Balwant Chanar, and Benares. Through a long Singh successfully followed up his father’s policy. course of years he endeavoured to make himself practically independent of the Wazi'r, his lord-paramount, by building or seizing a line of fortresses on a strong strategical basis south of the Ganges. Step by step he acquired new strips of territory, and strengthened each acquisifortress

by fresh military works. In 1763, the Raja joined the Emperor Shah Alam and the Wazfr Shuja-ud-daula in their invasion of Bengal. After the disastrous battle of Baxar, however, he went over to the English camp, and prudently

tion

By the agreement of 1764, sought the protection of the conquerors. Balwant Singh’s estates were transferred from Oudh to the English ; but the transfer was disapproved by the Court of Directors, and in