BENARES. some 22
District for a course of
miles
255
while the
Karamnasa
skirls the
south-eastern border, a heavy stream after rains, but almost dry during hill rivers, to sudden flushes, which produce considerable inundations. The only other permanent water-course is that of the Barna Nadi, whose bed would run dry in the cold weather were it not prevented by a dam thrown across the slender stream about a mile above its confluence with the Ganges. Three small marshy lakes, known as the Baripur, Koth, and Kovvar jhils, occupy hollows in the northern plain. The District has no forests or other waste lands of any importance, every available acre having been long brought under cultivation, and planted with a rich luxuriance
the hot months, though subject, like other
of cereals or sugar-cane
while tiny hamlets
every direction over the face of the country. or saline efflorescence, occur here
tisdr,
but
much
commonly than
in
lie
A
thickly scattered in
few patches of barren
and there among the uplands,
the Districts farther west;
while only to be found along the ravines of the minor rivers. Beasts of prey are consequently rare, but hares, squirrels, porcupines,
jungle
less
is
and monkeys abound lakes and rivers. History
can trace
.
— Although
its
and wild-fowl congregate
numbers on the
the city of Benares, the metropolis of Hinduism,
origin to the very earliest period of
India, yet the
in
District at
Aryan colonization in any
large can scarcely be said to possess
The its own until the middle of the i8th century. and ancient annals of Benares city itself will be found under During the Musalman period, the District was the proper heading. ruled by the Nawabs of Oudh, till ceded with Ghazipur to the British The ancestors of the present Maharaja of Benares had in 1775. already risen to importance under the Oudh Wazi'rs. In 1737, Mansa separate history of antiquities
Ram,
the founder of the family greatness, acquired possession of a
in Jaunpur District, and next year obtained for his son, Balwant Singh, the title of Raja, and the three sarkdrs of Jaunpur, Mansa Ram died in 1740; but Raja Balwant Chanar, and Benares. Through a long Singh successfully followed up his father’s policy. course of years he endeavoured to make himself practically independent of the Wazi'r, his lord-paramount, by building or seizing a line of fortresses on a strong strategical basis south of the Ganges. Step by step he acquired new strips of territory, and strengthened each acquisifortress
by fresh military works. In 1763, the Raja joined the Emperor Shah Alam and the Wazfr Shuja-ud-daula in their invasion of Bengal. After the disastrous battle of Baxar, however, he went over to the English camp, and prudently
tion
By the agreement of 1764, sought the protection of the conquerors. Balwant Singh’s estates were transferred from Oudh to the English ; but the transfer was disapproved by the Court of Directors, and in
