BANKURA.
8o
a further re-transfer of territories from Bard wan has nearly doubled the
former area of the District, which in 1872 was returned at 1346 square miles. Its present area is 2621 square miles.
— The
historical interest of the District centres in the town which formerly gave its name to the surrounding country. The Raja of Bishnupur is the descendant of one of the ancient Hindu petty dynasties which formerly held the Bengal frontier
History
.
of Bishnupur,
against the jungle tribes of the inner plateau
on the
account of the family, taken from their native chronicles, in
west.
A
full
be found
will
my Annals of Rural Bengal.
A
long
list
embanked
of kings
lakes
encouraged trade
is
recorded, one
of
whom
built
tanks
another raised temples and set up idols
and a fourth spent
nth
time in war.
his
and
a third In
the
we read that Bishnupur was the most renowned city in the world, and it became more beautiful than the beautified house of Indra in heaven. The buildings were of pure beginning of the
white stone.
centur}'
‘
Within the walls of the palace were theatres, embellished There were also houses
rooms, dwelling-houses, and dressing-rooms. for elephants, barracks for soldiers,
and a
stables, storehouses, armouries, a
Three hundred years later the fort was strengthened, the Governor had orders to prepare a new uniform for his army, and so on. In later history, the family figures in turn as the enemy, the ally, and It was exempted from the tributary of the Musalman Nawabs. personal attendance at the Court of Murshidabad, and appeared by During the i8th century, a representative or a Resident at the Darbar. Impoverished by Maratha raids and the Bishnupur house declined. Muhammadan extortions, it finally succumbed beneath the famine of More than 1770, which left the country almost bare of inhabitants. one-half of the estate relapsed into jungle, and the family was reduced to such poverty that the Raja was compelled to pawn his household idol, Madan Mohan (a remnant of aboriginal worship), with one Gokul Chandra Mitra of Calcutta. Some time after, the unfortunate treasury,
temple.’
prince with great difficulty managed to collect the amount required to redeem it, and sent his minister to Calcutta to obtain back the pledge. Gokul received the money, but refused to restore the idol. The case was brought before the Supreme Court at Calcutta, and decided in favour of the Raja whereupon Gokul caused a second idol to be made, The exactly resembling the original, and presented it to the Rajd.
earlier years of British administration intensified rather than relieved
the difficulties of the house of Bishnupur.
maintaining a military array which was
The Rajas insisted upon no longer required under
English rule, and for the support of which their revenues were altogether inadequate.
The new system
protected them from Maratha raids and
