— BANKURA.
82 mercial
including
class,
merchants,
general
dealers,
carriers,
etc.,
and pastoral class, including gardeners, 176,438 9874 artisan, mining and other industrial classes, 40,132 ; manufacturing, (5) (6) indefinite and non-productive class (comprising 54,993 general labourers, 1515 men of rank and property, and 204,549 unspecified, The population is almost entirely including male children), 261,057. rural. There are 3952 villages containing fewer than two hundred inhabitants; 1147 with from two hundred to five hundred; 268 with from five hundred to a thousand; 73 with from one to two thousand; 1 1 with from two to three thousand; 4 with from three to five thousand; and 2 with from fifteen to twenty 3 with from five to ten thousand (4) agricultural
thousand inhabitants. The five towns with a population exceeding Bankura, 18,747; Bishnupur, 18,863; five thousand inhabitants, are Bankura Patroshair, 7026; Kotalpur, 6163; and Sonamukhi, 5590.
—
a backward District, and the general condition of the people, as compared with the adjoining eastern Districts, is one of poverty.
is
This
especially apparent
is
in
the jungle
villages, the cultivators are better off ;
In the lowland
tracts.
but even here, few show signs of
a high standard of comfort, either in personal appearance or in the construction of their houses.
Bankura,
the chief town and administrative head-quarters of the
on the north bank of the Dhalkisor river. Bishwas the ancient capital of the District under its is described by Colonel GastreD as having been once by a long connected line of curtains and bastions
District, is situated
nupur,
farther south,
native Rajas.
It
strongly fortified
measuring
many of the
The
‘
miles in length,
7
Within
of the curtains. city, lay
the citadel.
with
small
this outer line
The remains
circular ravelins covering
of fortifications, and west
of these defences
What
Raja’s palace was situated within the citadel.
it
still
exist.
may have
been in the palmy days of its ancient chieftains it is difficult to say. But at present, a very insignificant pile of brick buildings surrounded by ruins marks the site.’ These ruins, among which are many remains of temples, are of different ages and styles of architecture. city contains the public offices, several schools,
Muhammadan
temples.
inhabitants are wealthy,
The houses
—a
The modern
and many Hindu and
are very poor, although
circumstance which
is
many
of the
explained by the
statement that the rapacity of former Rajas was so great, that it was dangerous for any one to show signs of wealth ; and the custom of building
Of
mean
dwellings has been handed
down from
father to son.
the villages of Bankura, the following are deserving of mention
and head-quarters of a police circle containing a subordinate Judge’s Court, and situated near the south bank of the Dhalkisor river, about half way between the towns of Bankura and (i)
Onda, a large
village
Statistical
and Geographical Report on Bankura
District.
