Bengal District Gazetteers - Jessore

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Introductory notes

The Bengal District Gazetteers were published in the first two decades of the 20th century. The bulk of the series was published under the supervision of Lewis Sydney Stewart O'Malley. L.S.S. O'Malley who entered Indian Civil Service in 1898, joined as Assistant Magistrate and Collector in Bengal. O'Malley was later promoted to the post of Under Secretary to Government and General and Revenue Department when he took upon his work on the Bengal District Gazetteers. The Gazetteer volume on Jessore was published by The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot in 1912.

The revenue or fiscal administration of the region came under the control of the East India Company with the Grant of Diwani in 1765. In 1781, the Company assumed direct responsibility of Jessore. The collectorate of Jessore was founded in 1786. The following excerpts from the Gazetteer have been selected from the chapters on Agriculture and Natural Calamities. The selections highlight the abundance of rivers, creeks and swamps in the region with little need for irrigation. Crop production in the district though did suffer during the 1791 drought.

Selection details

The revenue or fiscal administration of the region came under the control of the East India Company with the Grant of Diwani in 1765. In 1781, the Company assumed direct responsibility of Jessore. The collectorate of Jessore was founded in 1786. The following excerpts from the Gazetteer have been selected from the chapters on Agriculture and Natural Calamities. The selections highlight the abundance of rivers, creeks and swamps in the region with little need for irrigation. Crop production in the district though did suffer during the 1791 drought.

BENGAL DISTRICT GAZETTEERS
JESSORE

by
L.S.S.O'MALLEY
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE
CALCUTTA: THE BENGAL SECRETARIAT BOOK DEPOT. 1912
[Page 48]

1. CHAPTER V AGRICULTURE

In the south and south-east of the district the lands are low, the rivers are tidal, and there are many bils or morasses. In the north and north-west the land is higher, having been raised by the deposit of silt from the rivers which traverse it. This process has now stopped owing to the rivers having silted up at their head, the result of which is that the periodical inundations, which used to occur when they were in flood, have ceased. In the Jhenida subdivision there have been no floods for the last 15 years, and the country is the poorer for it; while in the Magura subdivision the floods are now comparatively slight and the land is not fertilized to the same extent as formerly. In the higher tract to the north, jute, tobacco, sugarcane and various cold weather crops are grown in addition to rice (chiefly the aus or autumn crop), and the date-palm is extensively cultivated. The country to the south, which is lower and less thickly populated, is chiefly under paddy cultivation, aman or winter rice predominating.

The soil in the north of the district is highly fertile; it is formed half of clay and half of sand, although towards the west the clay preponderates. The tract lying between the Nabaganga and the Kumar was formerly a vast swamp, but has been reclaimed and yields abundant harvests of rice. In the Magura subdivision the soil is loamy for a depth of six or seven feet, and below that it is sandy; but in some parts it is so hard, that it is almost impervious to the spade and cannot be prepared for cultivation unless it is softened by inundation. In the Narail subdivision clay predominates near the bil lands, and elsewhere the soil is loamy.

In low-lying depressions lying between rivers, there is a heavy clay suited to rice cultivation, which is called matial. Outside this area the soil may be broadly subdivided into two classes-(1) doas (half-clay and half-sand), and (2) balia (sandy). Doas is a loose friable soil, brown in colour; it comes next to matial in point of productiveness and is very favourable to the [Page 50] growth of aus, jute and rabi crops. Balia is a poor sandy soil, which yields a scanty harvest of aus and jute, but is fit for oil seeds, melons, etc.

Land on the outskirts of bils is locally known as samka matial or kharya matial. This soil contains traces of limestone in its composition and becomes loose on absorbing rain water. It is less productive than matial. The date trees, which are reared in large numbers all over the district, thrive on lands known as nonopanta or raspanta. The retention of moisture is one of the chief characteristics of this soil, which comes under the category of doas and has a reddish tinge. Lands of this kind are found in patches all over the district.

[Page 76]

2. CHAPTER VI NATURAL CALAMITIES

[Page 78]

The district is not subject to drought, and the number of rivers. creeks and swamps is so great that no irrigation works are required. From 1787 to 1801, when Jessore was frequently inundated, famines due to the destruction of crops by floods were no means rare. In 1787 much distress was caused by floods in September and a cyclone in October. A great quantity of rice floated away, or was submerged and rotted; the crop was completely destroyed; and the date-trees, mustard seed, and pulse crops were seriously injured. Prices rose rapidly, the cultivators sold their ploughs and other agricultural implements, and flocked to Jessore, offering their children for sale. After various ineffectual measures taken by Government, Mr. Henckell, the then Magistrate, advanced Rs. 15,000 to the cultivators and spent Rs. 6,000 in repairing the embankments. He had already induced the zamindar of Yusufpur to advance Rs. 5,000 to his tenants; and the boro dhan, or spring rice crop, cultivated with his money, materially improved the situation. It is worthy of notice, that even in the year of this famine, the whole of the Government land revenue demand was realized.

In 1791 the district was visited by drought, the Collector reporting on the 20th October that there had been no rain for thirty-eight days. The realization of the revenue was twice [Page 79] postponed, and, as in 1787, the Government forbade the exportation of grain by sea. On the 31st December 1791, prices had risen to twice and thrice their usual rates. The opening of all tanks and reservoirs, which the Government ordered as a remedial measure, had no effect, as the water-level in them was low and the water could not of itself flow from them over the surrounding fields. An abundant harvest in 1794 induced the Government to establish public granaries, two in Jessore, one at Babukhali near Magura, and one at Shorganj, near Phultali on the Bhairab. But misfortune pursued these granaries from the first. The buildings rapidly deteriorated; one was struck by lightning and burned down; the native agents employed in purchasing rice proved dishonest; many losses were entailed by the renewal of stock; the establishments involved a large annual outlay; and eventually, in 1801, the granary system was abolished.

This is a selection from the original text

Keywords

agriculture, collector, crops, drought, fertile, flood, harvest, inundation, rice

Source text

Title: Bengal District Gazetteers - Jessore

Editor(s): L.S.S. O'Malley

Publisher: The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot

Publication date: 1912

Edition: 1st Edition

Place of publication: Calcutta

Provenance/location: This text was transcribed from images available at the Digital Library of India: http://www.dli.ernet.in/.

Digital edition

Original editor(s): L.S.S. O'Malley

Language: English

Selection used:

  • 1 ) pages 48 to 50
  • 2 ) pages 78 to 79

Responsibility:

Texts collected by: Ayesha Mukherjee, Amlan Das Gupta, Azarmi Dukht Safavi

Texts transcribed by: Muhammad Irshad Alam, Bonisha Bhattacharya, Arshdeep Singh Brar, Muhammad Ehteshamuddin, Kahkashan Khalil, Sarbajit Mitra

Texts encoded by: Bonisha Bhattacharya, Shreya Bose, Lucy Corley, Kinshuk Das, Bedbyas Datta, Arshdeep Singh Brar, Sarbajit Mitra, Josh Monk, Reesoom Pal

Encoding checking by: Hannah Petrie, Gary Stringer, Charlotte Tupman

Genre: India > gazetteers > district

For more information about the project, contact Dr Ayesha Mukherjee at the University of Exeter.

Acknowledgements