128
JFA.V.
Three months the Marathas remained here, burning, plundering, and laying waste the whole country but now, thank God, they have all gone, but the inhabitants are not yet returned. The inhabitants have lost almost all they were worth Grievous as was the state of affairs thus disclosed, the sufferings of Bardwan at the hands of the Marathas were insignificant compared with those of Bi'rbhum, where the dry soil and fine undulating surface afforded precisely the riding-ground which their cavalry loved. The swampy nature of the country in Bardwan protected it to a great extent, and the District would have rapidly recovered from the predatory incursions referred to, had it not been subjected to natural scourges scarcely less terrible than the Maratha horse. The great dearth of 1770 affected The Maharaja died in the midst of the the District most disastrously. desolation, and his heir had to melt down the household ornaments and beg a loan from Government in order to perform the funeral ceremonies. For the next twenty years, the family remained in a state of chronic debt, and the relations between the Rajas and the English authorities were of the most troublesome and unsatisfactory character. The Permanent Settlement (1793) brought about a new order of things, and, after a long period of poverty and ruin, Maharaja Tej Chandra He was succeeded in restored the financial position of the family. 1833 by the late IMaharaja, Mahtab Chand, who managed the estates with so much success that the house is now again one of the most prosperous in Bengal. The Maharaja assisted the English authorities in the Santal rebellion in 1855, and during the Mutiny of 1857 he did ever}’thing in his power to strengthen the hands of the Government, by placing elephants and bullock-carts at the disposal of the authorities, and keeping open the roads from Bardwan to Bi'rbhum and Katwa, so that there was no interruption of intelligence between the seat of Government and the anxiously watched stations of Bi'rbhum and BarhamThe Maharaja died in 1879, and was succeeded by his adopted pur. son, Aftab Chand Mahtab Chand, who, on attaining his majority at the end of 1881, was installed in all his father’s honours and possessions. Many changes have taken place in the jurisdiction of the District of Bardwan. When it was ceded to the English in 1760 by Mir Kasim Khan, together with Midnapur and Chittagong, it comprised, in addition to the present District known as Bardwan, those of Bankura and Hugh', Bankura and Hugh' were afterwards and a third part of Birbhum. made separate Districts, and a number of transfers to and from the adjoining Districts were subsequently made. The population of Bardwan, according to the Census of Population for transfers since that year, which have decreased allowing but 1872, The Census the area from 3523 to 2697 square miles, was 1,483,850. of 1881 returned a total population of 1,391,823, showing a decrease of
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