Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/441

 ;

BIJNAUR. same

431

as the present District, disclosed a total population of 737,153.

Since then the population has declined, and the

last

Census

in

1881

returned the population at 721,450, showing a decrease of 15,703, The male population in 1881 or 2’ 1 3 per cent, in the nine years.

numbered 383,258, and the female 338,192, dwelling in 2040 towns and villages and 84,871 houses. Average density of population, 386‘2 per square mile



towns or villages per square mile,

i

‘09



houses per

square mile, 45*4; inmates per occupied house, 8'5. As regards the religious distinctions of the people, Bijnaur is noticeable among the

North-Western Provinces for the large proportion of its The Census shows 484,334 Hindus, or 67 per The unusual as against 236,073 Muhammadans, or 33 per cent.

Districts of the

Musalman cent.,

inhabitants.

number of Musalmans

doubtless due to

is

the thick sprinkling of

considerable towns, whose population consists in great part of Shaikhs,

and Pathans. The District also contained 299 Christians, 725 and 18 Sikhs at the date of the Census. Of the various Hindu Brahmans numbered 27,775; Rajputs, 18,537; Baniyas, castes. or landless agriculturists, just ^5>939; Ahirs, 5520; Chamars, emerging from serfdom, 105,674; and Kayasths, 3552. Regarding the occupations of the people, the Census Report returns the male population under the following six main heads (i) Professional class, including Government officials and the learned professions, 9349 ; (2) domestic servants, hotel and lodging-house keepers, etc., 1435 (3) commercial class, including merchants, traders, carriers, etc., 10,139; (4) agricultural and pastoral class, including gardeners, 149,462 ; (5) manufacturing, artisan, and other industrial classes, 66,213; (6) indefinite and non-productive (comprising 15,164 general labourers, and The District 131,496 unspecified, including male children), 146,660. contains no fewer than 13 towns Avith a population exceeding 5000 namely, Bijnaur, 15,147; Najibabad, 17,750; Sherkot, souls, 15,087; Chandpur, 11,182; Nagina, 20,503; Sehora, 9014; Sahispur, 6338; Dhampur, 5708; Mandawar, 7125 Afzalgarh, 7797; Nihtor, 9686; Jahalu, 5547; and Kiratpur, 12,728. The high proportion of their Muhammadan inhabitants may be seen by comparing the statistics for the six towns whose populations exceed 10,000 souls. The following figures give the number of Hindus to each TOO Musalmans in these towns: Bijnaur, ioo'8; Najibabad, 118; Nagina, 55 and Kiratpur, 52. Sherkot, 46 Chandpur, 47 The only Sayyids, Jains,



—





—





other places

of interest

in



the District

Pathargarh, a mile north-east of Najibabad,

are the Rohilla fortress of

now

fast falling into ruins

and the remains of an ancient city, some 6 miles in extent, at Parasnath, near Nagina, where a few foundations and some carved stone figures alone mark the deserted

site.

Agriculture.— The character of the

soil,

and the system of

tillage in