Bengal District Gazetteers Burdwan 1910

Abstract

The district of Burdwan, one of the western districts of the general Burdwan Division is situated between 22° 56' and 23° 53' north and between 86° 48' and 88° 25' east longitude. It TI0N‘ contains an area of 2,689 square miles as ascertained by the latest survey, and a population, according to the census of 1901, of 1,532,475 persons. Burdwan, the principal town and administrative headquarters, is situated on the north bank of the Banka, some 2 miles from the Damodar river, in 23° 14' N. and 87° 51' B. The name Bardhamana iu the vernacular is a corruption of the Sanskrit Vardhamana (the present participle passive of the verb vardh) and implies “ the increasing or prosperous.” The district lies mainly between the Ajay, the Bhagirathi or Bounda- Hooghly, and the Damodar rivers. It is bounded on the north riej by the Santal Parganas, Birbhum and Murshidabad ; on the east by Nadia ; on the south by Hooghly, Midnapore and Bankura ; and on the west by Manbhum, The Ajay separates it on the north from the Birbhum and Murshidabad districts forming a natural boundary line till shortly before#its junction with the Bhagirathi; while on the south the Damodar, running parallel to the Ajay for a considerable portion of its course, forms the man boundary. A small portion of the Katwa subdivision lies to the north of the Ajay, and the Khaiidaghosh and Raina thanas of the head-quarters subdivision lie to the south of the Damodar, whioh here takes a sharp bend to the north-east. On the west the Barakar passes along the north-western boundary for a, few miles before its junction with the Damodar and divides the district from Manbhum. On the east the Hooglily, known in its upper reaches as the Bhagirathi, forms the mstiff boundary with Nadia, but a small strip of land on the right bank of the river whioh oontains the town of Nadia belongs to that district. The south-eastern boundary marches with the Hooghly distriot and is formed by an irregular line drawn north-east from the Dhalkisor river, which for a few miles forms the boundary with Midnapore, to the Hooghly. The natural boundaries formed by the great rivers to the north, east and south are fairly constant, and there have been no important oh^nges within recent times.