!
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
