BHANDARA.
362
Kamtha and
arud taluks, rebelled against the British Government,
when Captain Gordon was deputed to Kdmtha, and put a speedy end to the disturbance. The District was then administered by Captain ilkinson, at
first
from Kamtha, but
1830, Raja Raghujf
iii.
after
1820 from Bhandara.
In
attained his majority and succeeded to the
government, which he continued to hold till his death in 1853. On the nth October 1854, Captain C. Elliot was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the District, and since then the history of Bhandara has been one of peaceful progress. During the Mutiny of 1857-58, the District remained perfectly tranquil. Three companies of infantry and a small
body of horsemen were stationed at Bhandara until i860, but since that time the police have constituted the only armed force. Population The Census of 1872 disclosed a population of 564,813 .
—
persons, on an area of 3922 square miles.
The later Census in 1881 gave a population of 683,779 on the same area, showing an increase of 118,966, or 2I'o6 per cent, in the nine years. This increase, however, is more apparent than real, and the Deputy Commissioner attributes one
half
to
defective
enumeration in the Census of 1872. was ii'76 per cent.
registered increase of births over deaths
The The
Deputy Commissioner also pointed out that a considerable emigration had taken place of weavers, chiefly to Behar, and of brass workers, to Chhatisgarh. The District population in 1881 resided 1612 towns and villages; number of houses, 141,114, of which ^33 i° 56 were inhabited and 8058 uninhabited; average density
chiefly in
of population, 174 per square mile; number of houses, 34 per square mile; inmates per occupied house, 5’i4. Divided according to sex, there were, males 340,811, and females 342,968. Classified according to religion, Hindus numbered 589,699 Sikhs, 12 ; Kabirpanthis, 2169; Satnamis, 38; Muhammadans, 13,102; Christians, 157; The Buddhist, i; Jains, 576; Parsi's, 4; aboriginal tribes, 78,021.
tribes are the Gonds, who numbered were returned as Hindus, the remaining 70,688 still professing their primitive faiths. The remaining aboriginal tribes consist of a few Kurkiis, Kols, and others. Among the Hindus,
most numerous of the aboriginal 90,946, of
whom
20,258
Rajputs 7994, the mass Brahmans in 1881 numbered 6435, Hindu population consisting of Dhers or Mhars (113,589), Kurmls (79,036), Ponwars (53,990), Teh's (36,952), Goaris (42,796), Kdlars (25,195), Dhimars (29,347), and other cultivating or inferior
of the
castes.
The Muhammadan
population
divided according to sect
—Sunnis,
Of the 12,021; Shias, 286; unspecified, 795. 157 Christians, 47 were Europeans or Americans, 6 Eurasians, 87 natives, and 17 unspecified. The Church of England numbered 43 adherents, Roman Catholics 53, and Presbyterians 29. The language
consisted of
in
common
use
is
Marathi, though from the neighbourhood of Urdu-
