Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/357

 — BHAGALPUR.

347

The Muham-

Musahar, 79,584; Sonar, 16,914; Sunn', 12,107,

—

madans are classified according to sect into Sunnis, 141,151; Shias, 3318 and unspecified, 41,064. Of the 578 Christians, 323 are natives, 154 Europeans, 46 Eurasians, and 55 unspecified. The Division of the People into Town and Cou 7itry ; Occupations, etc. population of the District is entirely rural, and there are only two municipal towns containing more than five thousand inhabitants namely, Bhagalpur (population, 68,238) and Colgong (population,

—

—

SoNBARSA, which, however, is not a municipality, has a popuThe villages and towns are classified as follows 3210 contain less than two hundred inhabitants; 1868, from two to five hundred; 797, from five hundred to a thousand; 258, from one to two thousand; 35, from two to three thousand; 6, from three to five thousand; 2, from five thousand to ten thousand; and i, upwards 5672).

lation of 5237.

of

fifty



The male

thousand inhabitants.

population

classified

is

—

main divisions (i) Professional class, including Government officials and the learned professions, 6319; (2) domestic servants, etc., 42,602; (3) commeraccording to occupation into

cial class,

and

agricultural

(5)

manufacturing,

(6)

indefinite

The

six

including merchants, general dealers, carriers,

(4)

labourers,

the following

including

including

unspecified,

of the District, as a

etc.,

gardeners,

and other industrial non-productive (comprising

357,152

inhabitants

class,

artisan,

and

and

pastoral

classes,

fairly





51,829

123,453

children),

whole, are

35,404 362,360



general

480,605.

happy and

contented, and the smaller cultivators are said to be better off than their brethren of the lower delta.

A

peasant, with a small holding of

he would not be so well off as an ordinary retail shopkeeper, would be able to live quite as well as a man with a monthy income of Rs. 8 or i6s. The cultivators of Bhagalpur generally are much less in debt to the mahdjans or grain merchants than is the 5 acres of land, although

same

class in Bengal.

debt.

Demon - worship. valence of

In the south of the District there

—A

peculiar feature of the District

demon-worship,

especially

of a

is

is

very

little

the pre-

Brahman-demon, Dube

Bhairan by name. In Bhagalpur District every village has its own demon, who is propitiated by offerings made at the foot of a tree where he is supposed to reside. A belief in demons or ghosts is almost as prevalent in Bengal proper as in Bhagalpur ; but in Bengal if demons cause annoyance, the gods are invoked or exorcisms are

the

them ; while in Bhagalpur they are propitiated by and their blessings asked in cases of difficulty or danger. Demon-worship is not prevalent throughout Behar; and the few Districts in which it exists are those bordering on tracts inhabited by aboriginal tribes, such as Kols and Santals. practised to expel

presents,