The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province And Kashmir - free ebook by James McCrone Douie

SIR JAMES DOUIE, M.A., K.C.S.I.

SEEMA PUBLICATIONS C-3/19, R. P. Bagh, Delhi-110007. First Indian Edition 1974 Printed in India at Deluxe Offset Press, Daya Basti, Delhi-110035 and Published by Seema Publications, Delhi-110007....

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EDITOR'S PREFACE

In his opening chapter Sir James Douie refers to the fact that the area treated in this volume—just one quarter of a million square miles—is comparable to that of Austria-Hungary. The comparison might be extended; for on ethnographical, linguistic and physical grounds, the geographical unit now treated is just as homogeneous in composition as the Dual Monarchy. It is only in the political sense and by force of the ruling classes, temporarily united in one monarch, that the term Osterreichisch co

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NOTE BY AUTHOR

My thanks are due to the Government of India for permission to use illustrations contained in official publications. Except where otherwise stated the numerous maps included in the volume are derived from this source. My obligations to provincial and district gazetteers have been endless. Sir Thomas Holdich kindly allowed me to reproduce some of the charts in his excellent book on India . The accuracy of the sections on geology and coins may be relied on, as they were written by masters of these

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AREAS AND BOUNDARIES

Introductory. —Of the provinces of India the Panjáb must always have a peculiar interest for Englishmen. Invasions by land from the west have perforce been launched across its great plains. The English were the first invaders who, possessing sea power, were able to outflank the mountain ranges which guard the north and west of India. Hence the Panjáb was the last, and not the first, of their Indian conquests, and the courage and efficiency of the Sikh soldiery, even after the guiding hand of the

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MOUNTAINS, HILLS, AND PLAINS

The Great Northern Rampart. —The huge mountain rampart which guards the northern frontier of India thrusts out in the north-west a great bastion whose outer walls are the Hindu Kush and the Muztagh-Karakoram ranges. Behind the latter with a general trend from south-east to north-west are the great valley of the Indus to the point near Gilgit where it turns sharply to the south, and a succession of mountain chains and glens making up the Himalayan tract, through which the five rivers of the Panjá

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RIVERS

The Panjáb Rivers. —"Panjáb" is a Persian compound word, meaning "five waters," and strictly speaking the word denotes the country between the valley of the Jhelam and that of the Sutlej. The intermediate rivers from west to east are the Chenáb, the Ráví, and the Biás. Their combined waters at last flow into the Panjnad or "five rivers" at the south-west corner of the Multán district, and the volume of water which 44 miles lower down the Panjnad carries into the Indus is equal to the discharge o

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GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

Extent of Geological Record. —Although the main part of the Panjáb plain is covered by a mantle of comparatively recent alluvium, the provinces described in this book display a more complete record of Indian geological history than any other similar area in the country. The variety is so great that no systematic or sufficient description could be attempted in a short chapter, and it is not possible, therefore, to do more in these few pages than give brief sketches of the patches of unusual inter

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CLIMATE

Types of Climate. —The climate of the Panjáb plains is determined by their distance from the sea and the existence of formidable mountain barriers to the north and west. The factor of elevation makes the climate of the Himalayan tracts very different from that of the plains. Still more striking is the contrast between the Indian Himalayan climate and the Central Asian Trans-Himalayan climate of Spití, Lahul, and Ladákh. Zones. —A broad division into six zones may be recognised: Trans-Himalayan C

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HERBS, SHRUBS, AND TREES

Affinities of Panjáb Flora. —It is hopeless to describe except in the broadest outline the flora of a tract covering an area of 250,000 square miles and ranging in altitude from a few hundred feet to a height 10,000 feet above the limit of flowering plants. The nature of the vegetation of any tract depends on rainfall and temperature, and only secondarily on soil. A desert is a tract with a dry substratum and dry air, great heat during some part of the year, and bright sunshine. The soil may be

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FORESTS

Rights of State in Waste. —Under Indian rule the State claimed full power of disposing of the waste, and, even where an exclusive right in the soil was not maintained, some valuable trees, e.g. the deodár in the Himálaya, were treated as the property of the Rája. Under the tenure prevailing in the hills the soil is the Rája's, but the people have a permanent tenant right in any land brought under cultivation with his permission. In Kulu the British Government asserted its ownership of the waste.

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BEASTS, BIRDS, FISHES, AND INSECTS

Fauna. —With the spread of cultivation and drainage the Panjáb plains have ceased to be to anything like the old extent the haunt of wild beasts and wild fowl. The lion has long been extinct and the tiger has practically disappeared. Leopards are to be found in low hills, and sometimes stray into the plains. Wolves are seen occasionally, and jackals are very common. The black buck (Antilope cerricapra) can still be shot in many places. The graceful little chinkára or ravine deer (Gazella Bennett

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THE PEOPLE: NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES

Growth of Population. —It is probable that in the 64 years since annexation the population of the Panjáb has increased by from 40 to 50 per cent. The first reliable census was taken in 1881. The figures for the four decennial enumerations are: Incidence of Population in Panjáb. —The estimated numbers of independent tribes dwelling within the British sphere of influence is 1,600,000. The incidence of the population on the total area of the Panjáb including native States is 177 per square mile, wh

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THE PEOPLE (continued): RELIGIONS

Religions in N.W.F. Province. —In the N.W.F. Province an overwhelming majority of the population professes Islám. In 1911 there were 2,039,994 Musalmáns as compared with 119,942 Hindus, 30,345 Sikhs, and 6585 Christians. Religions in Kashmír. —In Kashmír the preponderance of Muhammadans is not so overwhelming. The figures are: The Hindus belong mostly to the Jammu province, where nearly half of the population professes that faith. The people of Kashmír, Báltistán, Astor and Gilgit, Chilás and Hu

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THE PEOPLE (continued): EDUCATION

Educational progress. —According to the census returns of 1911 there are not four persons per 100 in the province who are "literate" in the sense of being able to read and write a letter. The proportion of literacy among Hindus and Sikhs is three times as great as among Muhammadans. In 1911-12 one boy in six of school-going age was at school or college and one girl in 37. This may seem a meagre result of sixty years of work, for the Government and Christian missionaries, who have had an honourab

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ROADS AND RAILWAYS

Roads. —The alignment of good roads in the plains of the Panjáb is easy, and the deposits of calcareous nodules or kankar often found near the surface furnish good metalling material. In the west the rainfall is so scanty and in many parts wheeled traffic so rare that it is often wise to leave the roads unmetalled. There are in the Panjáb over 2000 miles of metalled, and above 20,000 miles of unmetalled roads. The greatest highway in the world, the Grand Trunk, which starts from Calcutta and end

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CANALS

Importance of Canals. —One need have no hesitation in placing among the greatest achievements of British rule in the Panjáb the magnificent system of irrigation canals which it has given to the province. Its great alluvial plain traversed by large rivers drawing an unfailing supply of water from the Himalayan snows affords an ideal field for the labours of the canal engineer. The vastness of the arid areas which without irrigation yield no crops at all or only cheap millets and pulses makes his

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AGRICULTURE AND CROPS

Classification by Zones. —In order to give an intelligible account of the huge area embraced by the Panjáb, N.W.F. Province, and Kashmír it is necessary to make a division of the area into zones. Classification must be on very broad lines based on differences of altitude, rainfall, and soil, leading to corresponding differences in the cultivation and the crops. For statistical purposes districts must be taken as a whole, though a more accurate classification would divide some of them between two

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HANDICRAFTS AND MANUFACTURES

Handicrafts. —The chief handicrafts of the province are those of the weaver, the shoemaker, the carpenter, the potter, and the worker in brass and copper. The figures of the 1911 census for each craft including dependents were: weavers 883,000; shoemakers 540,000; carpenters 381,000; potters and brickmakers 349,000; metalworkers 240,000. The figures for weavers include a few working in factories. The hand-spun cotton-cloth is a coarse strong fabric known as " khaddar " with a single warp and wef

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EXPORTS AND IMPORTS

Trade. —In 1911-12 the exports from the Panjáb, excluding those by land to Central Asia, Ladákh, and Afghánistán, were valued at Rs. 27,63,21,000 (£18,421,000), of which 61 p.c. went to Karáchí and about 10 p.c. to Calcutta and Bombay. Of the total 27 p.c. consisted of wheat, nearly the whole of which was dispatched to Karáchí. All other grains and pulses were about equal in value to the wheat. "Gram and other pulses" (18 p.c. of total exports) was the chief item. Raw cotton accounts for 15, and

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HISTORY—PRE-MUHAMMADAN PERIOD, 500 B.C.—1000 A.D.

In Hindu period relations of Panjáb were with western kingdoms. —The large tract included in the British province of the Panjáb which lies between the Jamna and the Ghagar is, having regard to race, language, and past history, a part of Hindustán. Where "Panjáb" is used without qualification in this section the territories west of the Ghagar and south of Kashmír are intended. The true relations of the Panjáb and Kashmír during the Hindu period were, except for brief intervals, with Persia, Afghá

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HISTORY (continued). THE MUHAMMADAN PERIOD, 1000-1764 A.D.

The Ghaznevide Raids. —In the tenth century the Turks were the janissaries of the Abbaside Caliphs of Baghdád, and ambitious soldiers of that race began to carve out kingdoms. One Alptagin set up for himself at Ghazní, and was succeeded in 976 A.D. by his slave Sabaktagin, who began the long series of Indian raids which stained with blood the annals of the next half-century. His son, Mahmúd of Ghazní, a ruthless zealot and robber abroad, a patron of learning and literature at home, added the Pan

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HISTORY (continued). THE SIKH PERIOD, 1764-1849 A.D.

Rise of Ranjít Singh. —The Bhangís held Lahore with brief intervals for 25 years. In 1799, Ranjít Singh, basing his claim on a grant from Sháh Zamán, the grandson of Ahmad Sháh, drove them out, and inaugurated the remarkable career which ended with his death in 1839. When he took Lahore the future Mahárája was only nineteen years of age. He was the head of the Sukarchakia misl , which had its headquarters at Gujránwála. Mean in appearance, his face marked and one eye closed by the ravages of sma

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HISTORY (continued). THE BRITISH PERIOD, 1849-1913

Administrative Arrangements in Panjáb. —Lord Dalhousie put the government of the province under a Board of Administration consisting of the two Lawrences, Henry and John, and Charles Mansel. The Board was abolished in 1853 and its powers vested in a Chief Commissioner. A Revenue or Financial Commissioner and a Judicial Commissioner were his principal subordinates. John Lawrence, the first and only Chief Commissioner of the Panjáb, became its first Lieutenant-Governor on the 1st of January, 1859.

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ARCHAEOLOGY AND COINS

Hindu and Buddhist Remains. —The scholar who ended his study of Indian history with the close of the first millennium of the Christian era would expect to find a fruitful field for the study of ancient monuments of the Hindu faith in the plains of the Panjáb. He would look for a great temple of the Sun God at Multán, and at places like Lahore and Kángra, Thanesar and Pihowa, for shrines rich with graven work outside and with treasures of gold and precious stones within. But he would look in vain

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ADMINISTRATION—GENERAL

Panjáb Districts. —The administrative unit in the Panjáb is the district in charge of a Deputy Commissioner. The districts are divided into tahsíls , each on the average containing four, and are grouped together in divisions managed by Commissioners. There are 28 districts and five divisions. An ordinary Panjáb district has an area of 2000 to 3000 square miles and contains from 1000 to 2000 village estates. Devon, the third in size of the English counties, is about equal to an average Panjáb dis

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ADMINISTRATION—LOCAL

Municipalities. —It is matter for reflection that, while the effect of British administration has been to weaken self-government in villages, half a century of effort has failed to make it a living thing in towns and districts. The machinery exists, but outside a few towns the result is poor. The attempt was made on too large a scale, municipal institutions being bestowed on places which were no more than villages with a bazár . This has been partially corrected of late years. A new official ent

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REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

Financial Relations with Government of India. —Local governments exercise their financial powers in strict subordination to the Government of India, which alone can borrow, and which requires the submission for its sanction of the annual provincial budgets. To ensure a reasonable amount of decentralization the Supreme Government has made financial contracts with the provinces under which they receive definite shares of the receipts, and are responsible for definite shares of the expenditure, und

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PANJÁB DISTRICTS AND DELHI

Districts and Divisions. —The Panjáb now consists of 28 districts grouped in five divisions. In descriptions of districts and states boundaries, railways, and roads, which appear on the face of the inset maps, are omitted. Details regarding cultivation and crops will be found in Tables II, III and IV, and information as to places of note in Chapter XXX . The revenue figures of Panjáb districts in this chapter relate to the year 1911-12. Delhi Enclave. —On the transfer of the capital of India to

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THE PANJÁB NATIVE STATES 1. The Phulkian States

Phulkian States. —The three Phulkian States of Patiála, Jínd, and Nábha form a political agency under the Panjáb Government. They occupy, with Baháwalpur and Hissár, the bulk of that great wedge of light loam and sand which Rájputána, physically considered, pushes northwards almost to the Sutlej. In the Phulkian States this consists of two tracts, the Powádh and the Jangal Des. The former, which occupies the north and north-east of their territory, possesses a light fertile loam soil and a very

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THE NORTH WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE

The Province. —The N. W. F. Province consists of five British districts, Dera Ismail Khán, Bannu, Kohát, Pesháwar, and Hazára with a total area of 13,193 square miles, of which rather less than one-third is cultivated. Of the cultivated area 70 p.c. depends solely on the rainfall. In addition the Chief Commissioner as Agent to the Governor General controls beyond the administrative boundary territory occupied by independent tribes, which covers approximately an area of 25,500 square miles. In 19

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KASHMÍR AND JAMMU

Kashmír. —Some account has already been given of the topography and scenery of the wide territory, covering an area about equal to that of the Panjáb less the Ambála division, ruled by the Mahárája of Kashmír and Jammu. The population, races, languages, and religions have been referred to in Chapters IX and X . Modern history. —Some mention has been made of the early history of Kashmír (pages 165, 166, 172, 173). Even the hard Sikh rule was a relief to a country which had felt the tyranny of the

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CITIES

Delhi (28.38 N., 77.13 E.).—Of imperial cities the most interesting are those which have felt the tragedies as well as enjoyed the glories of Empire. From this point of view Delhi, notwithstanding its small extent and modern foundation, may be grouped with Rome, Constantinople, and Paris. In the matter of size it is in the same class as Edinburgh. The present Delhi or Sháhjahánábád is a creation of the middle of the seventeenth century, and the oldest of the Delhis in the neighbourhood goes back

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OTHER PLACES OF NOTE

( a ) Ambála Division. Ambála , 30·2 N.—76·4 E. Population 80,131, of which 54,223 in Cantonments. A creation of British rule. It became the headquarters of the Political Agent for the Cis-Sutlej States in 1823, and the Cantonment was established in 1843. The Native City and the Civil Lines lie some miles to the N.W. of the Cantonment. Headquarters of district and division. Bhiwání ( Hissár ), 28·5 N.—76·8 E. Headquarters of tahsíl in Hissár. Population 31,100. On Rewárí—Ferozepore branch of Ráj

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