BHAGALPUR, a city of British India, in the Behar province of Bengal, which gives its name to a district and to a division; situated on the right bank of the Ganges, 265 m. from Calcutta. It is a station on the East Indian railway. Pop. (1901) 75,760, showing an increase of 9% in the decade. The chief educational institution is the Tejnarayan Jubilee college (1887), supported almost entirely by fees. Adjacent to the town are the two Augustus Cleveland monuments, one erected by government, and the other by the Hindus, to the memory of the civilian, who, as collector of Bhagalpur at the end of the 18th century, “by conciliation, confidence and benevolence, attempted and accomplished the entire subjection of the lawless and savage inhabitants of the Jungleterry of Rajmahal.”
The District of Bhagalpur stretches across both banks of the Ganges. It has an area of 4226 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 2,088,953, showing an increase of 3% in the decade. Bhagalpur is a long and narrow district, divided into two unequal parts by the river Ganges. In the southern portion of the district the scenery in parts of the hill-ranges and the highlands which connect them is very beautiful. The hills are of primary formation, with fine masses of contorted gneiss. The ground is broken up into picturesque gorges and deep ravines, and the whole is covered with fine forest trees and a rich undergrowth. Within this portion also lie the lowlands of Bhagalpur, fertile, well planted, well watered, and highly cultivated. The country north of the Ganges is level, but beautifully diversified with trees and verdure. Three fine rivers flow through the district-the Ganges, Kusi and Ghagri. The Ganges runs a course of 60 m. through Bhagalpur, is navigable all the year round, and has an average width of 3 m. The Kusi rises in the Himalayas and falls into the Ganges near Colgong within Bhagalpur. It is a fine stream, navigable up to the foot of the hills, and receives the Ghagri 8 m. above its debouchure.
In the early days of British administration the hill people, the Nats and Santals, gave much trouble. They were the original inhabitants of the country whom the Aryan conquerors had driven back into the barren hills and unhealthy forests. This they avenged from generation to generation by plundering and ravaging the plains. The efforts to subdue or restrain these marauders proved fruitless, till Augustus Cleveland won them by mild measures, and successfully made over the protection of the district to the very hill people who a few years before had been its scourge. Rice, wheat, barley, oats, Indian corn, various kinds of millet, pulses, oil-seeds, tobacco, cotton, indigo, opium, flax and hemp and sugar-cane, are the principal agricultural products of Bhagalpur district. The jungles afford good pasturage in the hot weather, and abound in lac, silk cocoons, catechu, resin and the mahuá fruit, which is both used as fruit and for the manufacture of spirits. Lead ores (chiefly argentiferous galena) and building stone are found, and iron ore is distributed over the hilly country. Attempts made to work the galena in 1878-79 and 1900 were abandoned, and the iron ore is little worked. Gold is washed from the river sand in small particles.
The climate of Bhagalpur partakes of the character both of the deltaic districts of Bengal and of the districts of Behar, between which it is situated. The hot season sets in about the end of March, and continues till the beginning of June, the temperature at this time rising as high as 110° Fahr. The rains usually begin at the end of June and last till the middle of September; average annual rainfall, 55 in. The cold season commences at the beginning of November and lasts till March. During December and January the temperature falls as low as 41° Fahr. The average annual temperature is 78°. Bhagalpur formed a part of the ancient Sanskrit kingdom of Anga. In later times it was included in the powerful Hindu kingdom of Magadha or Behar, and in the 7th century A.D. it was an independent state, with the city of Champa for its capital. It afterwards formed a part of the Mahommedan kingdom of Gaur, and was subsequently subjugated by Akbar, who declared it to be a part of the Delhi empire. Bhagalpur passed to the East India Company by the grant of the emperor Shah Alam in 1765.
There are indigo factories, and other industries include the weaving of tussur silk and the making of coarse glass. A large trade is carried on by rail and river with Lower Bengal. The tract south of the Ganges is traversed by the loop-line of the East Indian railway, and there is also a railway across the northern tract.
The Division of Bhagalpur stretches across the Ganges from the Nepal frontier to the hills of Chota Nagpur. It comprises the five districts of Monghyr, Bhagalpur, Purnea, Darjeeling, and the Santal Parganas. The total area is 19,776 sq. m.; and in 1901 the population was 8,091,405.
BHAMO, a town and district of Burma. The town was in ancient times the capital of the Shan state of Manmaw, later the seat of a Burmese governor. It is now the headquarters of a district in the Mandalay division of Upper Burma (Chinese frontier). It is situated about 300 m. up the river from Mandalay. It is the highest station on the Irrawaddy held by British troops, and the nearest point on the river to the Chinese frontier. In 1901 it contained 10,734 inhabitants, of whom a considerable number were Chinamen, natives of India and Shan-Chinese. It stretches for a distance of nearly 4 m. along the Irrawaddy bank in a series of small villages, transformed into quarters of the town, but the town proper is confined mainly to the one high ridge of land running at right angles to the river. The surface of the ground is much cut up by ravines which fill and dry up according to the rise and fall of the river. When the Irrawaddy is at its height the lower portion of the town is flooded, and the country all round is a sheet of water, but usually for no very long time. Here or hereabouts has long been the terminus of a great deal of the land commerce from China. For years after its annexation by Great Britain in 1885 the trade routes were unsafe owing to attacks from Kachins. These have now ceased, and the roads, which were mere bridle-tracks, have been greatly improved. The two chief are the so-called Santa and Ponlaing route, through Manyün (Manwaing) and Nantien to Momein, and the southern or Sawadi route by way of Namhkam. Cart roads are now being constructed on both routes, and that south of the Taiping river could easily be continued through Manyün to Momein if the Chinese should be induced to co-operate. There is a fairly large military garrison in Bhamo distributed between two forts to the north and east of the town. There are in general stationed here a native regiment, two sections of a battery and the wing of a European regiment. Besides the barracks there are a circuit house, dâk bungalow, courthouse, and post and telegraph offices. There is a branch railway from Myitkyina to Katha, whence there is daily communication by river to Bhamo.
The District of Bhamo lies wholly in the basin of the Irrawaddy, which, as well as its tributaries, runs through the heart of it. On the east of the river is the Shan plateau, running almost due north and south. West of the Irrawaddy there is a regular series of ranges, enclosing the basins of the Kaukkwe, Mosit, Indaw and other streams, down which much timber is floated. Beyond the Kaukkwe there is a ridge of hills, which starts at Leka, near Mogaung, and diverges to the south, the eastern ridge dividing the Kaukkwe from the Mosit, and the western forming the eastern watershed of the Nam Yin and running south into Katha. It is an offshoot from the latter of these ridges that forms the third defile of the Irrawaddy between Bhamo and Sinbo. The district covers an area of 4146 sq. m., and the population in 1901 was 79,515. It is mainly composed of Shan-Burmese and Kachins. The Shan-Burmese inhabit the valleys and alluvial plains on each side of the river. The Kachins, who probably came from the sub-regions of the Himalayas, occupy the hills throughout the district. There are also settlements of Shans, Shan-Chinese, Chinese and Assamese. There are extensive fisheries in the Shwegu and Mo-hnyin circles, and in the Indaw, a chain of lakes just behind the Mosit, opposite Shwegu. The district abounds in rich teak forests, and there are reserves representing 60,000 acres of teak plantation. The whole of the country along the banks of the Irrawaddy, the Mole, Taiping and Kaukkwe, is generally in a water-logged condition during the rains. The climate in the district is therefore decidedly malarious, especially at the beginning and end of the rains. From November to March there is very bracing cold weather. The highest temperatures range a few degrees over 100° F. up to 106°, and the lowest a few degrees under 40°. The average maximum for the year is about 87°, the average minimum about 62°. The rainfall averages 72 in. a year.
(J. G. Sc.)