A Statistical Account of Bengal, Volume 9
In the Rarh or western half of the District, there are two very large artificial tanks. The one is the Sagar Dighi, situated near the line of railway from Nalhati to Azimganj, not far from the latter town. The other is called Ramna Sheikh Dighi.
Dhulian is the only other town on the Ganges with river trade. On the Bhagirathi are situated Jangipur, with its suburb of Raghunathganj, and Jiaganj, which forms one town with Azimganj on the opposite side of the river. At Dhulian and Jangipur are mercantile communities engaged in river traffic. The imports com- prise tobacco, oil-seeds, sugar, ghee, wheat, and gram, and occasionally rafts of timber from the upper Provinces. Jangipur also sends out...
ETHNICAL DIVISION OF THE PEOPLE
The small genuine immigration that there is consists mainly of persons of the sipahi, barkandaz, horsekeeper, and punkah puller classes, who come hither from up-country in search of service. The wealth of the Baluchar and Azimganj merchants is steadily increasing; and the Oswals are thus enabled to gratify their pride and love of show by the engagement of these retainers. Some of these immigrants, failing to find employment, resort to petty thefts. No organized emigration, and but little of any description, takes place from this District. During the period of more than two years since I first came here, I have only seen one recruiter, and he disappeared when closely questioned as to his business. The number of persons who leave Murshidabad to push their fortunes in other parts of the country forms quite an insignificant proportion in the total population of the District.
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(5) Agarwala and Marwari, 347; (6) Oswal, 250; (7) Mahuri, 4; (8) Seth, 81. These are returned as four separate castes in the Census Report, but they are merely classes of up-country traders, who themselves lay claim to Kshatriyahood, and are generally ranked among the Rajputs. They have been settled in the District of Murshidabad for some generations, and still devote themselves to mercantile pursuits. Some of them also hold land and are among the richest men in the District. They live in the large commercial centres on the Bhagirathi, chiefly at Jiaganj, Baluchar, Jangipur, and Dhulian. According to the Deputy- Collector, the Agarwala merchants of Dhulian profess that they are Vaishyas, which was the third or trading caste in the primitive Hindu system. He also states that the Raja of Nashipur claims to be a Vaishya. The Vaishyas are not mentioned in the Census Report, and it is commonly thought that the caste no longer exists. The Seths are, possibly, the descendants of the great banking firm of Jagat Seth, of which a historical sketch will be given on a later page. The word 'Seth,' however, is merely a synonym for 'banker,' and there are circumstances which render improbable the identification suggested above. There is only one recognised descendant of Jagat Seth now alive, who still dwells in the ancestral palace at Murshidabad; whereas the Seths of the Census are to be found without a single exception in the outlying Subdivision of Rampur Hat. It is noticeable, also, that the Census returns give 90 Seths in the District of Birbhum, which adjoins this Subdivision.
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One of the heads of the Murshidabad banking family of Jagat Seth, whose history will subse- quently be given at length, deserted Jainism and became a Vaishnav. Many of the Vaishnavs are religious mendicants, but others are well- to-do and even wealthy.
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The Jains, though not numerous, are especially influential in the District of Murshidabad. They are not separately recorded in the Census of 1872, and it is impossible to give any accurate estimate of their number. The wealthy up-country merchants, commonly called Kayas, who are settled at Jiaganj, Azimganj, and Jangipur, belong almost exclusively to this sect. These mer- chants are returned in the Census under the names of Agarwala or Marwari, 347 in number; and Oswal, 250. Perhaps, also, some of those included under Rajput, 13,141, may be merchants by profes- sion and Jains by religion. The Jain merchants have almost mono- polized the commerce of Murshidabad; and a great portion of the carrying trade from Purnia and Tipperah to Calcutta is also in their hands. Among them are to be found the richest men in the District, and poverty is said to be unknown in the sect. The great banking family of Jagat Seth were originally Jains, but Harakh Chand, the fourth who held the title of Jagat Seth, became a Vaishnav. The circumstances attending this change of religion will be given at length in the history of the family on a subsequent page. It is said that though the Seths have thus abandoned the faith of their forefathers, they still retain certain customs of their old religion, and are by no means despised by the most orthodox Jains, who feel no repugnance to intermarriages with the converted Seths.
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Jiaganj, situated in 24° 14' 30" north latitude, and 88° 18' 31" east longitude, on the left or eastern bank of the Bhagirathi, about three miles above the city of Murshidabad, and exactly opposite the railway station of Azimganj, is recognised as the chief seat of commerce in the District. It is most favourably situated for trade; as, in addition to its command both of the Bhagirathi and the rail- way, it is also the emporium to which the busy marts on the Ganges, Bhagwangola and Dhulian, forward the produce they have received from up-country on its way to Calcutta.
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Kashimbazar is said to be so called from a legendary founder, Kasim Khan. Its history cannot be traced back beyond the seven- teenth century, but even when first mentioned it appears as a place of great consequence. After Satgaon had been ruined by the silting up of its river, and before Calcutta had yet attracted the trade of the Gangetic valley, Kashimbazar was the great emporium of Lower Bengal. The Rev. J. Long, in his essay in the Calcutta Review, entitled 'The Banks of the Bhagirathi,' quotes from Bruton as writing in 1632:— 'The city of Kashimbazar, where the Europeans have their factories, the country affording great quantities of silk and muslin.'
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‘Road on the west or right bank of the Bhāgirathi. — The portion of the road on the west bank of the Bhāgirathi from Azimganj to Rinshah ghat, opposite Barhampur, has been completed to within a mile of the ghat. A large traffic is already showing itself, the Hatanr between Barhampur and Azimganj being considerably shorter by this road than by that on the eastern bank.
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Railways. — A portion of the main loop-line of the East Indian Railway, about 30 miles in length, runs through the western portion of the District. It traverses those thānds which have recently been transferred from Birbhum District and the Santāl Parganas. The following are the stations, beginning from the south: — Rampurhat, Nalhati, Muraroi.
The Nalhati and Azimganj State Railway lies entirely within the District of Murshidabad. It runs almost due east from Nalhati, a station on the main loop-line of the East Indian Railway, to Azimganj, a mercantile town on the Bhāgirathi, directly opposite to Jiaganj; with a total length of 27½ miles, or, including sidings, 28½ miles. This railway was constructed in 1862 by a private company, at an estimated cost of £80,000; the gauge is only four feet, and the weight of the rails 31 lbs. to the yard; the steepest gradient is 1 in 100, which continues for a distance of 10 chains; and out of the total length of 27½ miles, 10 are either up or down hill. The names of the stations, starting from Nalhati are — Nawadih, Bokhurd, Sagardighi, Sahadpur, and Azimganj. It was hoped that this undertaking would develop and open up the traffic of Murshidabad and the neighbouring towns; but, as a private speculation, it was found to be a complete failure. On the 1st of April 1872, it was acquired by Government at the price of £30,000 cash; an equal sum having been previously paid in the form of guaranteed dividends at 5 per cent., in connection with the Oudh and Rohilkhand Company. As a matter of fact, therefore, the total cost to the present proprietors has been £60,000; but the Government of India calls the capital only £30,000, and on this basis, the line, including rolling stock, cost £1100, 9s. 0d. per mile. During the concluding nine months of 1872, the net earnings amounted to £2419, 8s. 0d., which would give an interest on capital of about 10 per cent. per annum. The following figures are taken from the Bengal Administration Report for 1873-74. The Nalhati State Railway, in the course of the year 1873, carried a total of 77,264 passengers, of whom 71,625 were third class; the total receipts were £8445, 5s. 0d., of which £5683, 18s. 0d., or 67.23 per cent., was derived from passenger traffic, and the remainder from merchandise; the working expenses amounted to £5073, 8s. 0d., or 60.0 per cent. of the total receipts; the net profits, therefore, were £3373, 18s. 0d., or slightly more than 11 per cent per annum on the estimated capital of £30,000; the number of the European staff was 1, and the native staff 183. This favourable return fully confirms the opinion expressed by Sir G. Campbell two years earlier, that 'the Nalhati Branch Railway is an excellent specimen of what a cheap branch line in India ought to be, both as to construction, stock, management, and buildings.' It will be observed that by far the larger portion of the receipts is derived from passenger traffic. The railway has not succeeded in intercepting, even in the cold season, the considerable trade which passes down the Bhāgirathi, or is carried on at Bhagwangola and Dhulian on the Ganges. The Collector of Murshidabad, in his Administration Report for 1872-73, thus describes the course which the goods traffic continues to follow: — ‘Cotton and jute are consigned in large quantities to the Azimganj merchants, are landed at Bhagwangola in the rains, and at Aldali or New Bhagwangola in the dry season; thence sent in carts via Kandi to Sinthid, and so by rail to Calcutta. Although Azimganj is so near to Bhagwangola, a small quantity only of these goods finds its way to Calcutta by means of the branch railway to Nalhati.’ The line altogether is on a small scale, and presents several strange features. The carriages look like broadened omnibuses, and are drawn by tiny locomotives, combining engine and tender in one, which are manufactured in Paris, and driven by natives of India. The line follows for the most part the undulations of the country. Downhill the train runs along merrily, but as the little engine toils up the gradient, the passengers may, and sometimes do, jump out and walk alongside, getting in again when the head of the ascent is reached. The average speed is only 11 miles an hour.
The Supplement to the Calcutta Gazette of 1st March 1876 contains a complimentary Resolution of Government, concerning a proposed new railway. It states that Rai Dhanpat Singh Bahadur of Azimganj has offered to construct, at his own expense, a branch line from Ranaghat, on the Eastern Bengal Railway, opposite Santipur in Nadia District, to Bhagwangola on the Ganges, in Murshidabad. The projected line would run by Krishnagar, Barhampur, and Murshidabad, and would be connected by a ferry with the Nalhati State Railway, and thus brought into communication with the East Indian system. It is needless to indicate the commercial advantages that would follow, but at present no definite action has been taken.
The trade of Azimganj has considerably developed since that town became a railway terminus, but not, perhaps, to such an extent as might have been anticipated. Murardi, however, which was a miserable village in 1860, has become a most important centre of trade since the opening of the East Indian Railway. It is now the rice mart from which the great bulk of the aman crop is despatched by rail, either to Calcutta, or towards the northwest, and ranks only second to Dhulian in the amount of its grain traffic.
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Apart from the decaying silk manufacture, and the many skilled handicrafts which used to flourish at Kasimbazir, the Collector reports that there used to be formerly thriving manufactures of brass and iron at a place called Kinsiribazir, a little to the north of Azimganj. There are now but few forges and shops remaining here, and the manufacture is almost extinct. It is not known that there are any traditions in the District of ancient processes of workmanship that have died out.
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They gratify their pride and love of show by the entertainment of retainers from the north-west; even as they have for some years past indulged their religious feelings by taking leases of some miles of the Bhagirathi from the zamindars, and preventing fish being caught in these waters. There is, however, reason to believe that not only have the larger merchants prospered, but that those whose transactions are on a much smaller scale have had cause to be grateful for the results of the year.’
The Collector also thinks it worthy of notice that in the north-western portion of the District, in thana Palsi and part of thana Manipur, commodities are usually exchanged according to the primitive method of barter. Rice is there a very common standard of value; and salt, fish, oil, sweetmeats, and most other necessaries, except clothing, are habitually bartered for rice.
Statistics of River Trade.—The following statistics, which are the most complete and trustworthy that have yet been obtained, are derived from a Resolution of Government on ‘The Boat Traffic of Bengal,’ dated 18th October 1875:—
The trade between the District of Murshidabad and the Districts of Bihar and of the North-Western Provinces, so far as it passes up and down the Ganges, is registered at Sahibganj. The following are the results thus afforded, showing as far as possible the places of despatch and of destination. In the year 1872, the total amount of commodities of all kinds destined for Murshidabad, which passed Sahibganj on its way down-stream, was 431,531 maunds or 15,797 tons; of which total, 104,659 maunds or 3,832 tons were consigned to Jangipur, 145,254 maunds or 5,317 tons to Jiaganj, and 181,618 maunds or 6,648 tons to Dhulian. In 1873, the total amounted to 563,409 maunds or 20,624 tons; of which Jangipur took 99,052 maunds or 3,626 tons, Jiaganj 189,285 maunds or 6,929 tons, and Dhulian 275,072 maunds or 10,069 tons. In 1874, the year of scarcity, the total was 427,977 maunds or 15,667 tons; giving 89,778 maunds or 3,286 tons to Jangipur, 109,659 maunds or 4,014 tons to Jiaganj, and 228,540 maunds or 8,366 tons to Dhulian.
The up-stream traffic from Murshidabad, ascertained in the same way, amounted in 1872 to a total of 405,145 maunds or 14,857 tons; of which 132,996 maunds or 4,868 tons were despatched from Dhulian, and 272,849 maunds or 9,989 tons from Jangipur. In 1873, the total was 504,751 maunds or 18,477 tons; being 260,215 maunds or 9,525 tons from Dhulian, and
160 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF MURSHIDABAD.
244,536 maunds or 8,952 tons from Jangipur. In 1874, the year of scarcity, the total up-traffic diminished to 125,070 maunds or 4,578 tons; 102,305 maunds or 3,745 tons from Dhulian, and only 22,765 maunds or 833 tons from Jangipur. In order to obtain the total river traffic of the above-mentioned towns, it would be necessary to add to the above figures the amount registered at Jangipur itself, as exported from these towns up and down the Bhagirathi, which has not been already included. The returns of the Bhagirathi traffic at Jangipur for 1874 show that 71,383 maunds or 2,613 tons were exported down-stream, which had been originally shipped at Dhulian, and 27,775 maunds or 1,016 tons from Jangipur itself. So far, therefore, as can be gathered from these registry stations, it may be roughly stated that the total river traffic, both up and down-stream, of Dhulian in 1872 amounted to 314,614 maunds or 11,516 tons; in 1873, to 535,287 maunds or 19,594 tons; and in 1874, to 402,228 maunds or 14,724 tons. The total traffic of Jangipur was, in 1872, about 377,508 maunds or 13,821 tons; in 1873, 343,588 maunds or 12,578 tons; and in 1874, 140,318 maunds or 5,135 tons.
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