Mathura A Gazetteer-3

MATHURA A GAZETTEER,
edited and compiled by, D.L. DRAKE-BROCKMAN [1911]

THE PEOPLE

EARLY ENUMERATIONS

Owing to the interchange of villages between Muttra and the neighbouring districts, any even approximately accurate statement of the population for the earliest periods is im­possible. Moreover in 1874 the Jalesar pargana was trans­ferred to Etah and 84 villages of pargana Farah were received in 1878 in compensation from Agra. As, however, Jalesar has ceased bodily to form a portion of the district, it is possible by excluding it to obtain from the earlier censuses an appro­ximate idea of the changes in the population for all but 84 villages in the district; and as the Farah portion differs little in characteristics from the rest of the Muttra tahsil, the enumerations may be accepted as representative of the whole. The first census taken in Muttra was that of 1848: but it was in reality little more than an estimate. The total population returned amounted to 583,705 persons. The results were generally discredited, and their unreliability was proved six years later when a far more accurate enumeration was made. The population in 1853 was 718,512 persons, the density being 542 persons to the square mile on a total area of 1,326.5 square miles. This was an increase of 134,807 persons or over 23 per cent. on the figures of 1848. The rate ranged from 1,424 persons to the square mile in the Sadr tahsil to 391 in the pargana of Sahar, now represented by south-western Chhata. The next census was taken in 1865, details as to castes, occupations, and other important matters being for the first time recorded. During the interval since 1853 the district had passed through the Mutiny, suffered from two severe epidemics of cholera and small-pox, and the famine of 1861. The returns showed a total of 667,847 souls, the decrease in the twelve years being 50,665 or 7 per cent: The density had fallen to 504 persons per square mile. The next enumeration was that of 1872. The district, still excluding Jalesar and the Farah villages, was found to contain 729,580 inhabitants, the resultant density on an area of 1,325 square miles being 551 persons to the square mile. If now the population and area of the Farah villages be added, the total area amounts to 1,408 square miles and the population to 782,460 persons or 556 persons to the square mile. From this point onwards comparisons for the whole district as now constituted can be made.

CENSUS OF 1881

By the time of the next enumeration in 1881, the number of inhabitants was found to have decreased by no less than 110,770. The population was returned at 671,690 persons and the area by the survey at 1,452.7 square miles. The density was thus 462 persons per square mile. The most thickly populated pargana was that of Muttra with 591 persons to the square mile, but the figure was swollen by the inclusion of the city population. Next came the fertile pargana of Sadabad with 493 and lowest in the scale was Chhata with only 370 persons to the square mile. The decrease may be attributed principally to the famine of 1878. This famine caused extensive migration. Severe epidemics of fever too prevailed after it and raised the rate of mortality to an abnormal figure. All tahsils lost heavily in population.

CENSUS OF 1891

During the following decade there was continuous progress and prosperity. By 1891 the population had increased to 713,421 souls, and the density to 490 persons to the square mile. On this occasion the increase was common to Muttra, southern Chhata, Mahaban and Sadabad; but Kosi or northern Chhata and Mat lost over 5,000 inhabitants each. The relative position of the tahsils, however, had not changed. Muttra was still the best populated pargana, the density being 593 persons to the square mile. Chhata tahsil came last and had only 370 persons to the square mile.If the city population be excluded from the returns, the density is only 439 persons to the square mile.

CENSUS OF 1901

The last census was taken in 1901 and it was then ascertained that the increase of population had been maintained and at an even higher rate than between 1881 and 1891. This is all the more remarkable because there had been famines in 1897 and 1900. The total number of inhabitants was returned at 763,099 persons. The average density was 524 persons to the square mile, or 482.4 if the city population be excluded. Every tahsil had shared in the rise, but the increase was most noticeable in Chhata and Muttra and was ascribed principally to immigration. This immigration had been encouraged by the extension of canal irrigation. The density was highest in Muttra tahsil, where it amounted to 623 persons to the square mile. Next in order came Sadabad with 605, Mahaban with 569 and Mat with 437 persons to the square mile. The least densely populated tahsil was Chhata, the number of persons to the square mile being only 428. The urban population living within the municipalities and Act XX towns numbered 142,655 souls or 18.7 per cent of the whole.

TOWN AND VILLAGES

In 1853 there were ten places possessing over 5,000 inhabitants, namely Muttra, Brindaban, Kosi, Mahaban, Gobar­dhan, Chhata, Shergarh, Kursanda, Ramgarh and Bisawar; but the population of the last three appears to have been swollen by the inclusion of that of many outlying hamlets. In 1872, however, Ramgarh was no longer on the list, and the number was reduced to nine. Moreover the place of Gobardhan had been taken by Surir. In 1881 the district contained 856 towns and villages, of which 698 contained less than 1,000 persons, while 101 others had less than 2,000 and 50 less than 5,000 inhabitants apiece. The remainder comprised Muttra, Brindaban and Kosi, which were then as now municipalities, and Chhata, Surir, Mahaban and Kursanda. Ten years later there were 850 towns and villages in Muttra, of which 674 had populations of less than 1,000, while 113 others had less than 2,000 and 54 between 2,000 and 5,000. The towns with over five thousand inhabitants included, besides those existing in 1891, Gobardhan and Shergarh. At the last census the total had increased by one: 654 villages contained under 1,000 persons, 122 others under 2,000, and 65 under 5,000. There remain ten and these were the three municipal towns and the Sadr bazar at Muttra, Gobardhan in tahsil Muttra, Surir in tahsil Mat, Mahaban, and Kursanda and Bisawar in Sadabad. The largest number of villages with over 500 inhabitants is to be found in the Muttra and Chhata tahsils, and after them comes Mahaban. In most parts, of the district the villages resemble those to be seen thoughout the west of the United Provinces. They generally consist of a single compact site, which when viewed from without is a mud-walled enclosure pierced by a few openings. The houses within are simi­lar mud-walled enclosures: inside is a small courtyard surrounded by low rooms or thatched sheds. In western Muttra, however, the sites are generally perched on hillocks. They have thus a fort-like appearance. They were constructed in this form, as has already been noted, in the days when the country was harried by Jat and Maratha marauders. In some of the older established towns such as Gobardhan, Barsana, Mahaban and Gokul, substantial edifices of masonry or stone are to be seen and these cities have an air of comfort and wealth. In Muttra city the houses are for the most part built of brick or stone. The general design common to all modern buildings is a front of carved stone with a grand central archway and arcaves on both sides; the latter are let out as shops on the ground floor. Storey upon storey above are projecting balconies supported on quaint corbels, the arches being filled in with minute reticulated tracery of an infinite variety of pattern and protected from the weather by broad eaves. Owing to the free use of stone both the buildings and the streets in Muttra city have an unusually tidy appearance, which is only marred by the many unsightly screens which are erected in front of the shops.

MIGRATION

The population is more affected by migration than that of any other district in the province, Dehra Dun and Naini Tal alone excepted. Nor is the fact surprising considering the close proximity of Rajputana. At the last census only 83.42 per cent. of the people enumerated in Muttra were born in the district, while 13.44 per cent. came from adjacent tracts, and 3.12 per cent. from other parts of India. The proportion of immigrants was thus 16.6 per cent. and the majority of these were women. This addition to the population, however, was practically all counteracted by emigration; for of all the persons who in 1901 gave Muttra as their birthplace 83.72 were enumerated in the district, 9.97 were found in other districts of the United Provinces and 6.31 per cent. in other parts of India. The total proportion of emigrants was thus 16.28 per cent. Resides the emigrants within India a certain number of natives of Muttra go further afield every year in search of labour, being recruited by agencies for British Guiana, Jamaica, Fiji and elsewhere. As regards internal migration there are no figures to form a basis for exact conclusions; but it is a well-known fact that during the decade from 1891 to 1901 a considerable number of persons left their homes in the trans-Jumna tahsils for those portions of the district which were protected by canal irrigation. Since the year of the census, however, the Mat branch extension of the canal has been opened and there will be no inducement for the people to migrate as they did before.

SEX

In 1853 the proportion of females to every hundred males was 86.2, and since that time there has been practically no increase. In 1865 it decreased to 84.1. In 1872 the proportion recorded was 85.2; in 1881 it rose to 86.1; in 1891 to 86.4; and in 1901 to 86.6. The proportion, however, is the highest in the Agra division, and differs little from that obtaining generally in the western portion of the province. The deficiency of females to males is more marked among the Hindus than among the Musalmans. This has been noted in many other districts; but none of the theories so far advanced, such as female infanticide or emigration, are entirely sufficient to account for the difference. The disproportion is found equally among nearly all the Hindu castes in the district, from the lowest to the highest: Kayasths are the only important caste in which females exceed males. In the city, where, however, the figures are to some extent affected by the influx of persons coming to be married in it, there appear to have been some curious fluctuations. In 1872 there were 92.6 females to every hundred males. This proportion declined to 91.1 in 1881 and to 83.8 in 1891, but rose at the last census to 87.2. The last figure is slightly in excess of the district average.

RELIGION

Of the total population recorded at the last census 680,096, or 89.12 per cent. were Hindus, 77,087 or 10.10 per cent. Musal­mans, 2,512 Jains, 2,262 Christians, 1,018 Aryas, 105 Sikhs, 16 Parsis and 3 Brahmo Samajists. The proportion of Hindus is larger than in the majority of the districts in the west of the province or the Agra division; but it falls short both of Etawah and Mainpuri. It is not as high as might be expected from the purely Hindu character of the district, the place Muttra holds in popular Hindu estimation or the vigour of its religious life. Moreover the Hindu population appears to have steadily dimi­nished since 1881; for in that year it exceeded 91 per cent. and in 1891 it was 90.60 per cent. On the other hand Musalmans have shown a decided increase. The proportion borne by members of this creed to the total was 8.65 per cent. in 1881 and fell to 7.78 in 1891. Even its present figure, however, is lower than in other district in the division except Mainpuri and Etawah. The same phenomenon has been observed in almost all parts of the provinces and is ascribed to the greater longevity and fertility of the Musalman population, and to the fact they do not form so large a portion of the very poor as the Hindu community.

MUSALMANS

Of the whole Musalman population at the last census 68,580 or 88.9 per cent. were returned as Sunnis. This is considerably lower than the provincial average, and is in part accounted for by the number of Lalbegis, of whom there were 7,311. Lalbegis are more numerous only in Agra and Meerut. They are sweepers who, in spite of their profession of the faith of Islam, still preserve the cult of their special deities: they derive their name from Lal Beg, round whom a whole cycle of legends centres.*(Vide Crooke:Tribes and Castes,vol.1,p.262) Of the rest 1,024 were Shies, 31 followers of the Saints, 9 Ahmadias and 6 Wahabis; while in the case of 126 persons no sect was specified. The returns of the last census showed that there were representatives of 37 different sub-divisions in the district, while in the case of 227 persons no subdivision was specified. Only one of these had over 10,000 members, namely the Sheikhs, making up 17.13 per cent. of the Musalman population. Five others occurred in numbers exceeding 5,000, and five more amounted to over 2,000 in each case. Very few of them are of any interest or importance; most have their Hindu counterparts and none are found in unusual numbers. It is, however, curious to note that in every instance the Musalman castes are far more numerous to the west of the Jumna than to the east.

SHEIKHS

First on the list come Sheikhs with 13,204 representa­tives, over half of whom are in the Muttra tahsil. The majority of these reside within municipal limits, while elsewhere they are most numerous in the towns of Chhata, Shergarh and Kosi, or in tahsil Mahaban. They belong to many subdivisions, but over half of the total are Qurreshis and one-seventh Siddiqis.

RAJPUTS

Musalman Rajputs follow Sheikhs with 8,885 members. They are found for the most part in Muttra, Chhata and Mahaban; but they are also numerous in Sadabad. They belong chiefly to the Bhale Sultan and Chauhan clans. The Bhale Sultans are more numerous, according to the census of 1901, in Muttra than in any district of the province except Sultanpur. In the province of Agra their largest settlement is in Bulandshahr. Those in that district claim descent, according to one story, from Siddh Rai Jai Singh, the Solankhi chief of Anhulwara Patan in Gujerat. After the defeat of Prithviraj, Sawai Singh, the ancestor of the family, obtained the title of Bhale Sultan, or "Lord of the Lance", from Shahab-ud-din Ghori. Another story is that they are descended from Sarang Dee, a nephew of the Raja of Gujerat, who took service under Prithviraj and perished in the war against Kanauj, when his descendant was rewarded with the lands in Bulandshahr. It was his grandson, Hamir Singh, who took service with the Raja of Kanauj, and obtained through him and Shahab-­ud-din the title of Bhale Sultan. The seventh in descent from him, Kirat Singh, distinguished himself in the campaign of Ghias-ud-din against the Meos, and obtained their lands as a reward; while Khan Chand, the seventh in descent from Kirat Singh, turned Musalman to please the Muhammadan governor under Khizr Khan. The Musalman Rajputs of Sadabad are mainly Malkanas.*(Their numbers were not separately recorded in 1901,but in 1981 they amounted to 1,000 souls) Originally they were mostly Jats and Gaurua Rajputs who were converted to Islam by the sword; but they retain many Hindu Customs and are known by Hindu names.

PATHANS

Pathans amounted 6,701 persons. They reside for the most part in Muttra and Chhata tahsils; and belong chiefly to the Ghori, Yusufzai and Lodi clans. But members of several other clans are found, such as the Bangash, Rohilla and Afridi.

SAIYIDS AND MUGHALS

Saiyids numbered 2,121 souls, and Mughals only 614, neither being in any sense important.

OTHER MUSALMANS

The other Musalman castes call for no special mention. The numerically strongest are Bhangis, 6,758; Qassabs, 6,542, half of whom belong to tahsil Chhata; Bhishtis,5,128; Faqirs, 4,867; Telis, 4,130, for the most part in Sadabad;Meos or Mewatis,3,813,two-thirds in Chhata; and Julahas,2,375, nearly half of whom are in Mahaban. After them come Dhobis, Nais and Darzis with numbers exceeding one thousand. None of the reminder are of any importance.

JAINS

The Jains are not a large community in the district, though their number exceeds that of most other districts in the province. They are usually known as Saraogis, and are almost exclusively recruited from the Bania caste. A few belong to the Agarwala subdivision, but the majority are of the Khandel gachcha or got. They are making no progress in the district, for in this centre of orthodoxy the “naked gods " are held in unaffected horror by the mass of the Hindu population. The temples of the sect are few and far between, and the Jains themselves are usually to be found in the neighbourhood of the large trading marts. It is not surprising therefore that the largest number reside in tahsil Chhata, particularly in or around Kosi, which possesses a Jain temple. Next to Chhata comes Sadabad, where they are concentrated for the most part in Sahpau; after that comes Mut­tra. In the city the creed of Jainism gained some prominence from its profession by the late Seth Raghunath Das, who owns the principal Jain temple in muhalla Kesopur. It is said that Jambu Swami here practised penance and that his name is record­ed in an old and almost effaced inscription on a stone slab that is still preserved under the altar. He is reputed to be the last of the Kewatis, or divinely inspired teachers, being the pupil of Sudharma, who was the only surviving disciple of Mahavira, the great apostle of the Digambara, as Paras Nath was of the Svi­tambara, sect. The temple was built by Mani Ram, who enshrined in it a figure of Chandra Prabhu, the second of the Tirthankaras. Some sixty years ago, however, Seth Raghanath Das brought from a ruined temple at Gwalior a large marble statue of Ajita Nath, which now occupies the place of honour, The site, as well as the temple, is popularly known by the name of Chaurasi; and an annual fair is held here lasting for a week from Kartik 5th to the 12th (October-November). This fair was instituted in 1870 by Nain Sukh, a Saraogi of Bharatpur. There are two other Jain temples in the city. They are both dedicated to Padma Prabhu; one is in the Ghiya mandi, and the other in the Chaube's quarter.

CHRISTIANITY

According to the returns of the last census the Christian population comprised 2,031 natives of India, 222 Europeans and nine Eurasians. It may be noted that on the date when the enumeration of 1901 was made, all but the dept of the cavalry regiment in the cantonments was away on active service. The district contains several missions, and to these must be attributed the remarkable increase in the number of converts; for in 1881 not more than 57, and in 1891 only 173 natives professed this religion. Of the native Christian population 1,858 belonged to theMethodist Church, 85 to the Anglican Communion, 47 were Roman Catholics, 15 Baptists and 8 Presbyterians, the denomina­tion of the remainder not being specified. The great majority of Christians were enumerated in the Muttra tahsil; but 582 were found in Mahaban and 382 in Sadabad, the smallest number being in Chhata tahsil.

BAPTIST MISSION

The earliest mission in the district was that of the London Baptist Missionary Society, whose connection with Muttra dates back to very early in the last century. The Agra missionaries of the society visited the place very soon after the establishment of their mission in that city in 1811; but the first official notice of Muttra is found in the society's report for 1826. From this it appears that Muttra was made a separate station in February 1825 under Mr. R. Richards, who was deputed there from Fatehgarh. In 1828, however, Mr. Richards returned to the communion of the Episcopal Church; and the native preacher who assisted him, by name Ram Das, was sent to Benares. Muttra was again treated as an outstation of Agra for the next fourteen years. In September 1843 another missionary, the Revd. J. Phillips, left Agra and took up his residence at Muttra; here he built a small chapel and baptised, two months later, his first convert. Both the house and chapel of the mission were destroyed in the Mutiny; and work was restarted in 1858 by Mr. Evans. For some years a determined attempt was made by the inhabitants of the city to obstruct the mission­aries, firstly by contesting in the law courts their title to the land on which their church was situated, and secondly by systematically hindering preaching in the city. The law suit, however, was unsuccessful, and the opposition to preaching after some years died down. In 1882 a suggestion was put forward is the London committee of the society to abandon the station on account of the scarcity of workers. This was not carried out entirely, though the staff was withdrawn and the place was only occasionally visited by the Agra missionaries until 1893. In that year the Revd. R. McIntosh took charge of the station and built the present mission house on the site of the bungalow destroyed by the rebels in 1857. The only part of the original buildings that remains is the baptistry of the old chapel, which is still in use. The Baptist Mission has two outstations and schools at Chhata and Kosi; and some medical mission work is also carried on in the city and district.