— BARD WAN. 92,027, or 6'2 per cent., in the nine years.
129 This decrease
is
attributed
by the malarious fever known as the Bardwan fever,’ which has been causing great mortality in the low-lying country [For throughout the Bardwan Division for the last twenty years. further particulars, see Medical Section, The male pp. 135, 136.] population in i88r numbered 668,295, the female 723,528; proportion of males in the total population, 48 '3 per cent. Area of the to the ravages caused
District,
‘
2697 square miles; average density of population, 5i6'o6 per
square mile; number of towns and villages, 3667 ; villages per square mile, I '36; number of occupied houses, 289,047, with an average of 4^82
inmates in each
unoccupied houses, 34,343. The great majority of the of the total population, are
inhabitants, 1,120,676, or 8o'5 per cent,
The
Hindus.
denominations are
other religious
— Muhammadans, —
263,816, or i8'8 per cent.; Christians, 910; Jews, 3; and aboriginal Santals, 6418. The higher castes of Hindus include Brahmans,
7218; and Kayasths, 33,069. numbers 35,305. Of the lower
Rajputs,
107,684;
The
Baniyas, or
the most numerous are the Bagdis, a degraded caste of labourers and fishermen, 148,788; and the Sadgops, the principal cultivating caste, 112,111. Of the remaining Hindu castes, the following are returned as numbering over ten thousand:- -Baun', 82,254; Goala, 70,262; Chamar, trading
caste,
castes,
—
Dom,
49,229; 39,030; Kaibartta, 31,592; Teli, 28,978; Kalu, 22,229; Hari, 22,121; Tanti, 20,776; Lohar, 20,601; Sunn', 19,873; Napit, 18,034; Chandal, 16,887; Kumbhar, 13,045; Madak, 12,353; Barhai, 10,131.
Caste-rejecting
whom
Hindus numbered 28,753,
The Muhammadan community
28,652 were Vaishnavs.
is
divided
according to sect into 256,854 Sunnis and 4274 Shias, while 2688 are returned as unspecified. Of the 910 Christians, 31 1 were Europeans,
259 Eurasians, 138 natives or Asiatics, and the remainder unspecified. occupations of the people (males) are returned in 6 classes, as
The
follows:
—
(i) Professional class, including civil
and
military officials
and
the learned professions, 22,894; (2) Domestic servants, hotel and lodginghouse keepers, etc., 24,035 ; (3) Commercial class, including merchants, etc., 18,003; (4) Agricultural and pastoral class, including gardeners, 255,756 ; (5) Manufacturing, artisan, mining, and other industrial classes, 62,429 ; and (6) Indefinite and unproductive
general dealers, carriers,
(comprising 58,456 labourers, 1430 men of rank and property, and225,292 There are only five unspecified, including male children), 285,178.
towns
in the District containing
the general population
is
each more than 5000 inhabitants, and rural. These towns are:
almost entirely
Bardwan (population, 34,080); Kalna, or Culna (population, 10,463); Raniganj (population, 10,792) Katwa, or Cutwa (population, 6820); and Dain-hat (population, 5789). The total urban population thus
disclosed is 67,944, the balance of 1,323,879 forming the rural populaI VOL. II.
