Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Athens-BOI

B I L A
River. The Malidnadi is the principal river of the district,
and governs the whole drainage and river system of the
surrounding country. It takes its rise in a mountain¬
ous region which is described as the wildest of all wild parts
of the Central Provinces, crosses the Bildspur boundary
near Seorlndrdin, and after a course of 25 miles in the
south-eastern extremity of the district enters Sambalpur
district. Within Bildspur the river is everywhere navigable
for six months in the year. Minor rivers—the Sakri,
Hdmp, Tesud, Agar, Manidri, Arpd, Kharod, Lildgar, Jonk,
and Barer!. The most important affluents of the Mahdnadi
are the Seonath and Hasdii. Besides the natural water
supply afforded by the rivers, Bilaspur abounds in tanks,—
these numbering 7018, as shown in the settlement statistics.
The census of 1872 disclosed a total population of 715,398,
of whom 435,379, or 60'86 per cent., are Hindus ; 7024, or
•98 per cent., Mahometans; 6 Buddhists ; 37 Christians;
and 272,952, or 38T5 per cent., belong to aboriginal
tribes, such as Gonds, Kan wars, Bhumias, Binjwars,
Dhanwdrs, &c. Among the Hindus, the Chdmdrs and
Pankds deserve particular notice. The former, who form
the shoemaker and leather-dealing caste of the Hindu
community, had always been held in utter contempt by the
other Hindu castes. But between 1820 and 1830 a
religious movement, having for its object their freedom
from the trammels of caste, was inaugurated by a member
of the caste, named Ghhs! Dds, who preached the unity of
God and the equality of men. Ghas! DAs gave himself
out as a messenger of God; he prohibited the adoration of
idols, and enjoined the worship of the Supreme Being
without any visible sign or representation. The followers
of the new faith call themselves Satndmis, or the worshippers
of Satndm or God. They do not keep the Hindu festivals,
and they defy the contempt of the Brhhmans. Ghhs! D&s,
the founder of the faith, was their first high priest. He
died in 1850; his son succeeded him, but was assassinated
(it was said by the Hindus), and the grandson is the
present high priest. The Ch4m4rs in Bilhspur number
164,388, or 21 per cent, of the total population. The
Pank4s, who form about a sixth of the population, are all
Kabirpanthls, or followers of Kabir, a religious reformer
of the 15th century. There is no great difference between
the Kabir Pankds and the Satndmis. They both abstain
from meat and liquor, marry at the age of puberty,
ordinarily celebrate their ceremonies through the agency
of the elders of their own caste, and bury their dead.
The Pankas worship the Supreme Being under the name
of Kabir, and the Chdmars under the name of Satndm;
while each community has a high priest to whom reverence
is paid. At present the majority of the Pankas are culti¬
vators, though formerly all were weavers. The Gonds are
the most numerous among the aboriginal tribes, the census
of 1872 returning them at 107,359, or 15 per cent, of
the total district population ; but so great an intermixture
has taken place between them and the Hindu races that
they have lost their language and most of their ethnical
characteristics, such as the flat forehead, squat nose, pro¬
minent nostril, dark skin, &c., and are scarcely distin¬
guishable from the other classes of the Hindu labouring
population. In addition to some of the Hindu deities
which they worship, the Gonds have their own gods—Bara
Deva and Diild Deva. The KAuwdrs are the next largest
section of the aboriginal population, and number 28,419
souls. The upper class among them claim to be R&jputs,
and are divided into numerous septs. Although an
aboriginal tribe, the census returns them as a Hindu caste.
All the northern landholders of Bilhspur belong to this
tribe, which consequently occupies an influential position.
Pice, wheat, pulses, oil-seeds, and cotton are the chief agricultural
staples. The census of 1872 returns the total area of the district
SPUE 671
at 7798 square miles, of which 2089 square miles are under cultiva¬
tion. The following is the approximate acreage under different
crops :—Rice, 882,218 acres ; wheat, 79,203 ; other food grains,
225,443; oil-seeds, 56,039 ; sugar-cane, 6888; cotton, 72,922 ;
opium, 124 ; tobacco, 2317; and vegetables, 12,329 ; total, 1,337,483
acres, or 2089‘81 square miles. Of the population, 438,880 live
by agriculture, while 276,518 are non-agriculturists. The chief
wealth of the district consists in its agricultural produce, and it is
not inaptly termed “ the land of plenty ” by the Banjdrds or traders,
who find here an inexhaustible store of surplus produce for export.
Scarcity of food is almost unknown. Coal and iron are the minerals
of the district; the former is not worked, and the latter but very
slightly, the annual out-turn being reported at about 15 tons only.
Sandstone, for building purposes, is quarried near Bilaspur and
Seorfnarain. The forests produce timber, edible and medicinal roots
and plants, lac and tasar-silk cocoons. Imports in 1867-68—sugar,
£5274 ; metals and hardware, £10,985 ; English piece-goods,
£11,194; cattle, £9240 ; miscellaneous, £10,531 ; total, £47,224.
Exports—rice (as ascertained), £8659 ; wheat, £6803 ; other edible
grains, £150; cotton, £16,407; molasses, £297; oil-seeds, £18;
lac, £15,603; miscellaneous, £5609 ; total, £53,546. Among local
industries the most important is the weaving trade. It is estimated
that cotton and silk cloths to the value of £95,000 are every year
manufactured. The traffic routes of the district are five in number,
the three most important of which are rugged and inaccessible, un¬
fit for wheeled carriages, admitting export or import only by means
of pack-bullocks during six months of the year. The other two are
simply tracks across the hills and through the jungle. The revenue
divisions of the district correspond with its physical features ; the
hilly area, covering about 5000 square miles, is almost entirely held
by large landed proprietors called Zamlnddrs, who have always
occupied a somewhat independent position. The open country,
with an area of 3000 square miles, is known as the Khdlsd jurisdic¬
tion, or the tract under direct revenue management through Govern¬
ment officers. Pendra, Matin, Uprora, Kenda, Lapha, Chhurf,
Korba, Champa, Sakti, Bhatgaon, Bilaigarh, Katangi, Pandaria,
Kawarda, and Madanpur, are the 15 Zaminddris comprising the
hilly area, of which Sakti and Kawarda have been acknowledged as
feudatories. Bilaspur, Mungelx, and Seorinarain are the three ■par-
gands in the Khdlsd tract. In 1868-69, the revenues of the district
were as follows:—Land-tax, £27,195; excise, £892 ; stamps, £2234;
forest, £434 ; assessed taxes, £1222 ; total, £31,977. For the pro¬
tection of person and property, Government maintained in 1868-69
a regular police of 310 officers and men, at a total annual cost of
£4363, besides the village watch or rural constabulary. The execu¬
tive staff of the district consists of the deputy-commissioner, with
two assistants and several sub-collectors. Bilaspur contained, in
1868-69, 33 Government and 58 private schools, attended by 3076
pupils. Besides Bilaspur, to be separately noticed below, there
are only four towns of any importance in the district:—Ratanpur,
the seat of the ancient Rajas, situated at the base of the Kenda, off¬
shoots of the Yindhyau range, highly attractive to antiquarians
and archaeologists on account of its great antiquity; it is now in a
dilapidated and deserted state. Population, 5111. Mungeli, a
rising market-town, situated on the banks of the Eiver Agar. Pop¬
ulation, 3542. Kawarda, population, 6590. Seorinarain, on the
Mahanadi, a favourite residence of the Ratanjmr court in former
days, contains a temple of the Hindu god Narayan, from which it
derives its name. Population about 1500. The climate of the dis¬
trict, though relaxing, is not oppressive. Cholera occasionally
breaks out in the epidemic form, being generally disseminated by
the Jagannath pilgrims from Central India, whose route to Orissa
lies through the district. Fever and smallpox also prevail.
The early history of the district is very obscure. From
remote ages it was governed by kings of the Haihai
dynasty, known as the Chhattisgarh Rfij&s, on account of
thirty-six forts, of which they were the lords. A genealo¬
gical list of kings of this dynasty has been carefully
kept up to the fifty-fifth representative in the year 1740,
when the country was seized without a struggle by the
Marhattds of Ndgpur. From 1818 to 1830 Bildspur came
under the management of the British Government, the
Marhattd chief of Ndgpur being then a minor. In 1854
the country finally lapsed to the British Government, the
chief having died without issue. During the Sepoy mutiny
a hill chief of the district gave some trouble, but he was
speedily captured and executed.
BilIspur, the chief town of the district of the same
name, is situated on the south bank of the River Arpd.
It is said to have been founded by a fisherwoman, named
Bilasa, three hundred years ago, and still retains her
name. The place, however, came to note only about one