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THE PANJAB, NORTH-WEST FRONTIER PROVINCE AND KASHMIR
by
SIR JAMES DOUIE, M.A., K.C.S.I.
Seema Publications
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.
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_ could be used to include the Poles of Galicia, the
Czechs of Bohemia and Moravia, the Szeklers, Saxons and more numerous
Rumanians of Transylvania, the Croats, Slovenes and Italians of
"Illyria," with the Magyars of the Hungarian plain.
The term _Punjábi_ much more nearly, but still imperfectly, covers the
people of the Panjáb, the North-West Frontier Province, Kashmír and the
associated smaller Native States. The Sikh, Muhammadan and Hindu Jats,
the Kashmírís and the Rájputs all belong to the tall, fair, leptorrhine
Indo-Aryan main stock of the area, merging on the west and south-west
into the Biluch and Pathán Turko-Iranian, and fringed in the hill
districts on the north with what have been described as products of the
"contact metamorphism" with the Mongoloid tribes of Central Asia. Thus,
in spite of the inevitable blurring of boundary lines, the political
divisions treated together in this volume, form a fairly clean-cut
geographical unit.
Sir James Douie, in this work, is obviously living over again the happy
thirty-five years which he devoted to the service of North-West India:
his accounts of the physiography, the flora and fauna, the people and
the administration are essentially the personal recollections of one who
has first studied the details as a District Officer and has afterwards
corrected his perspective, stage by stage, from the successively higher
view-point of a Commissioner, the Chief Secretary, Financial
Commissioner, and finally as Officiating Lieut.-Governor. No one could
more appropriately undertake the task of an accurate and
well-proportioned thumb-nail sketch of North-West India and, what is
equally important to the earnest reader, no author could more obviously
delight in his subject.
T. H. H.
ALDERLEY EDGE,
_March 9th, 1916._
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 subjects, Sir Thomas Holland and Mr R. B. Whitehead, I.C.S.
Chapter XVII could not have been written at all without the help
afforded by Mr Vincent Smith's _Early History of India_. I have
acknowledged my debts to other friends in the "List of Illustrations."
J. M. D.
_8 May 1916._
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. Areas and Boundaries 1
II. Mountains, Hills, and Plains 8
III. Rivers 32
IV. Geology and Mineral Resources 50
V. Climate 64
VI. Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees 71
VII. Forests 86
VIII. Beasts, Birds, Fishes, and Insects 90
IX. The People: Numbers, Races, and Languages 96
X. The People: Religions 114
XI. The People: Education 122
XII. Roads and Railways 127
XIII. Canals 132
XIV. Agriculture and Crops 142
XV. Handicrafts and Manufactures 152
XVI. Exports and Imports 159
XVII. History: Pre-Muhammadan Period, 500 B.C.-1000 A.D. 160
XVIII. History: Muhammadan Period, 1000 A.D.-1764 A.D. 168
XIX. History: Sikh Period, 1764 A.D.-1849 A.D. 181
XX. History: British Period, 1849 A.D.-1913 A.D. 188
XXI. Archaeology and Coins 200
XXII. Administration: General 212
XXIII. Administration: Local 217
XXIV. Revenue and Expenditure 219
XXV. Panjáb Districts and Delhi 224
XXVI. The Panjáb Native States 271
XXVII. The North-west Frontier Province 291
XXVIII. Kashmír and Jammu 314
XXIX. Cities 325
XXX. Other Places of Note 347
TABLES
I. Tribes of Panjáb including Native States and of
N.W.F. Province 359
II. Rainfall, Cultivation, Population, and Land
Revenue 360
III. Agricultural Diagrams 362
IV. Crops 364
V. Revenue and Expenditure of Panjáb 366
Index 367
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
1. Arms of Panjáb 1
2. Orographical Map (Holdich's _India_) 9
3. Nanga Parvat (Watson's _Gazetteer of Hazára_) 11
4. Burzil Pass (Sir Aurel Stein) 13
5. Rotang Pass (J. Coldstream) 15
6. Mt Haramukh (Sir Aurel Stein) 16
7. R. Jhelam in Kashmír--View towards Mohand Marg
(Sir Aurel Stein) 18
8. Near Náran in Kágan Glen, Hazára (Watson's
_Gazetteer of Hazára_) 19
9. Muztagh-Karakoram and Himalayan Ranges in
Kashmír (Holdich's _India_) 21
10. The Khaibar Road (Holdich's _India_) 23
11. Panjáb Rivers (Holdich's _India_) 33
12. The Indus at Attock (Sir Aurel Stein) 37
13. Indus at Kafirkot, D.I. Khán dt. (Sir Aurel Stein) 38
14. Fording the River at Lahore (E. B. Francis) 42
15. Biás at Manálí (J. Coldstream) 44
16. Rainfall of different Seasons (Blanford) 62, 63
17. Average Barometric and Wind Chart for January
(Blanford) 65
18. Average Barometric and Wind Chart for July
(Blanford) 66
19. Banian or Bor trees (Sir Aurel Stein) 75
20. Deodárs and Hill Temple (J. Coldstream) 80
21. Firs in Himálaya (J. Coldstream) 82
22. Chinárs (Sir Aurel Stein) 83
23. Rhododendron campanulatum (J. Coldstream) 84
24. Big Game in Ladákh 92
25. Yáks (J. Coldstream) 93
26. Black Buck 95
27. Map showing density of population (_Panjáb Census
Report_, 1911) 97
28. Map showing increase and decrease of population
(_Panjáb Census Report_, 1911) 98
29. Map showing density of population in N.W.F.
Province (_N.W. Provinces Census Report_, 1911) 99
30. Map showing density of population in Kashmír
(_Kashmír Census Report_, 1911) 100
31. Jat Sikh Officers (Nand Rám) 103
32. Blind Beggar (E. B. Francis) 107
33. Dards (Sir Aurel Stein) 108
34. Map showing races (from _The People of India_,
by Sir Herbert Risley. With permission of
W. Thacker and Co., London) 109
35. Map showing distribution of languages (_Panjáb
Census Report_, 1911) 111
36. Map showing distribution of religions (_Panjáb
Census Report_, 1911) 115
37. Raghunáth Temple, Jammu 116
38. Golden Temple, Amritsar (Mrs B. Roe) 117
39. Mosque in Lahore City (E. B. Francis) 118
40. God and Goddess, Chamba (H.H. the Rája of
Chamba) 120
41. A Kulu godling and his attendants (J. Coldstream) 121
42. A School in the time preceding annexation 124
43. Poplar lined road to Srínagar (Miss M. B. Douie) 128
44. Map showing railways 129
45. Map--Older Canals 134
46. Map--Canals 137
47. Map of Canals of Pesháwar district 141
48. Persian Wheel Well and Ekka (Sir Aurel Stein) 143
49. A drove of goats--Lahore (E. B. Francis) 144
50. A steep bit of hill cultivation, Hazára (Watson's
_Gazetteer of Hazára_) 146
51. Preparing rice field in the Hills (J. Coldstream) 147
52. Carved doorway (Sir Aurel Stein) 151
53. Shoemaker's craft (Baden Powell _Panjáb Manufactures_) 153
54. Carved windows (Sir Aurel Stein) 155
55. Papier maché work of Kashmír (Baden Powell
_Panjáb Manufactures_) 156
56. The Potter 157
57. Coin--obverse and reverse of Menander 163
58. Mártand Temple (Miss Griffiths) 166
59. Bába Nának and the Musician Mardána 174
60. Guru Govind Singh 176
61. Mahárája Ranjít Singh 182
62. Mahárája Kharak Singh 185
63. Nao Nihál Singh 185
64. Mahárája Sher Singh 185
65. Zamzama Gun (E. B. Francis) 187
66. Sir John Lawrence (from picture in National Portrait
Gallery) 189
67. John Nicholson's Monument at Delhi (Lady Douie) 190
68. Sir Robert Montgomery 191
69. Panjáb Camels at Lahore (E. B. Francis) 193
70. Sir Charles Aitchison (Bourne and Shepherd) 194
71. Sir Denzil Ibbetson (Albert Jenkins) 198
72. Sir Michael O'Dwyer (R. Rámlál Bhairulál and Son) 199
73. Group of Chamba Temples (H.H. the Rája of Chamba) 201
74. Payer Temple--Kashmír (Sir Aurel Stein) 202
75. Reliquary (Government of India) 203
76. Colonnade in Kuwwat ul Islám Mosque 204
77. Kutb Minár (Miss M. B. Douie) 205
78. Tomb of Emperor Tughlak Sháh (Miss M. B. Douie) 206
79. Jama Masjid, Delhi 207
80. Tomb of Humáyun (Miss M. B. Douie) 207
81. Bádsháhí Mosque, Lahore (E. B. Francis) 208
82. Coins 210
83. Skeleton District Map of Panjáb 223
84. Delhi Enclave 225
85. Hissár district with portions of the Phulkian States
etc. 226
86. Rohtak district 228
87. Gurgáon district 230
88. Karnál district 231
89. Ambála district with Kalsia 233
90. Kángra district 235
91. Biás at Manálí (J. Coldstream) 237
92. Religious Fair in Kulu (J. Coldstream) 238
93. Kulu Women (J. Coldstream) 239
94. Hoshyárpur district 240
95. Jalandhar district and Kapurthala 242
96. Ludhiána district and adjoining Native States 243
97. Ferozepore district and Farídkot 244
98. Gurdáspur district 246
99. Siálkot district 247
100. Gujránwála district 248
101. Amritsar district 250
102. Lahore district 251
103. Gujrát district 252
104. Jhelam district 254
105. Ráwalpindí district 255
106. Shop in Murree Bazár (Lady Douie) 256
107. Attock district 257
108. Mianwálí district 259
109. Sháhpur district 261
110, Montgomery district 263
111. Lyallpur district 264
112. Jhang district 265
113. Multán district 266
114. Muzaffargarh district 268
115. Dera Ghází Khán district 269
116. Mahárája of Patiála (C. Vandyk) 272
117. Mahárája of Jínd 277
118. Mahárája Sir Hira Singh of Nábha (Bourne and
Shepherd) 278
119. Mahárája of Kapúrthala 279
120. Rája of Farídkot (Julian Rust) 280
121. Nawáb of Baháwalpur 281
122. Native States of Chamba, Mandí, Suket, Biláspur 284
123. Rája Surindar Bikram Parkásh of Sirmúr 285
124. Rája of Chamba (F. Bremner) 287
125. Bashahr (Sketch Map by H. W. Emerson) 289
126. Sir Harold Deane (F. Bremner) 292
127. North-west Frontier Province 293
128. Dera Ismail Khán district 294
129. Bannu district 295
130. Kohát district 297
131. Pesháwar district 298
132. Hazára district 300
133. Sir George Roos Keppel (Maull and Fox) 303
134. Tribal Territory north of Pesháwar 304
135. Tribal Territory to west of N.W.F. Province 308
136. Khaibar Rifles 310
137. North Wazíristán Militia and Border Post 313
138. Mahárája of Kashmír 315
139. Jammu and Kashmír 316
140. Takht i Sulimán in Winter (Sir Aurel Stein) 318
141. Ladákh Hills (Mrs Wynyard Brown) 320
142. Zojilá Pass (Mrs Wynyard Brown) 322
143. Delhi Mutiny Monument 327
144. Kashmír Gate, Delhi 328
145. Map of Delhi City 329
146. Darbár Medal 334
147. Street in Lahore (E. B. Francis) 336
148. Sháhdara 338
149. Trans-border traders in Pesháwar 343
150. Mosque of Sháh Hamadán (F. Bremner) 345
Map of territories of Mahárája of Jammu and Kashmír _at end of volume_
Map of Panjáb _at end of volume_
CHAPTER I
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 old Mahárája Ranjít Singh was withdrawn, made it also one of
the hardest. The success of the early administration of the province,
which a few years after annexation made it possible to use its resources
in fighting men to help in the task of putting down the mutiny, has
always been a matter of just pride, while the less familiar story of the
conquests of peace in the first sixty years of British rule may well
arouse similar feelings.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Arms of Panjáb.]
~Scope of work.~--A geography of the Panjáb will fitly embrace an account
also of the North-West Frontier Province, which in 1901 was severed
from it and formed into a separate administration, of the small area
recently placed directly under the government of India on the transfer
of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, and of the native states in
political dependence on the Panjáb Government. It will also be
convenient to include Kashmír and the tribal territory beyond the
frontier of British India which is politically controlled from Pesháwar.
The whole tract covers ten degrees of latitude and eleven of longitude.
The furthest point of the Kashmír frontier is in 37° 2' N., which is
much the same as the latitude of Syracuse. In the south-east the Panjáb
ends at 27° 4' N., corresponding roughly to the position of the
southernmost of the Canary Islands. Lines drawn west from Pesháwar and
Lahore would pass to the north of Beirut and Jerusalem respectively.
Multán and Cairo are in the same latitude, and so are Delhi and
Teneriffe. Kashmír stretches eastwards to longitude 80° 3' and the
westernmost part of Wazíristán is in 69° 2' E.
~Distribution of Area.~--The area dealt with is roughly 253,000 square
miles. This is but two-thirteenths of the area of the Indian Empire, and
yet it is less by only 10,000 square miles than that of Austria-Hungary
including Bosnia and Herzegovina. The area consists of:
sq. miles
(1) The Panjáb 97,000
(2) Native States dependent on Panjáb Government 36,500
(3) Kashmír 81,000
(4) North West Frontier Province 13,000
(5) Tribal territory under the political control of the Chief
Commissioner of North West Frontier Province, roughly 25,500
Approximately 136,000 square miles may be classed as highlands and
117,000 as plains, and these may be distributed as follows over the
above divisions:
Highlands Plains
sq. miles sq. miles
(1) Panjáb, British 11,000 86,000
(2) Panjáb, Native States 12,000 24,500
(3) Kashmír 81,000 --
(4) North West Frontier Province 6,500 6,500
(5) Tribal Territory 25,500 --
On the north the highlands include the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan
(Siwálik) tracts to the south and east of the Indus, and north of that
river the Muztagh-Karakoram range and the bleak salt plateau beyond that
range reaching almost up to the Kuenlun mountains. To the west of the
Indus they include those spurs of the Hindu Kush which run into Chitrál
and Dir, the Buner and Swát hills, the Safed Koh, the Wazíristán hills,
the Sulimán range, and the low hills in the trans-Indus districts of the
North West Frontier Province.
~Boundary with China.~--There is a point to the north of Hunza in Kashmír
where three great mountain chains, the Muztagh from the south-east, the
Hindu Kush from the south-west, and the Sarikol (an offshoot of the
Kuenlun) from the north-east, meet. It is also the meeting-place of the
Indian, Chinese, and Russian empires and of Afghánistán. Westwards from
this the boundary of Kashmír and Chinese Turkestán runs for 350 miles
(omitting curves) through a desolate upland lying well to the north of
the Muztagh-Karakoram range. Finally in the north-east corner of Kashmír
the frontier impinges on the great Central Asian axis of the Kuenlun.
From this point it turns southwards and separates Chinese Tibet from the
salt Lingzi Thang plains and the Indus valley in Kashmír, and the
eastern part of the native state of Bashahr, which physically form a
portion of Tibet.
~Boundary with United Provinces.~--The south-east corner of Bashahr is a
little to the north of the great Kedárnáth peak in the Central Himálaya
and of the source of the Jamna. Here the frontier strikes to the west
dividing Bashahr from Teri Garhwál, a native state under the control of
the government of the United Provinces. Turning again to the south it
runs to the junction of the Tons and Jamna, separating Teri Garhwál from
Sirmúr and some of the smaller Simla Hill States. Henceforth the Jamna
is with small exceptions the boundary between the Panjáb and the United
Provinces.
~Boundary with Afghánistán.~--We must now return to our starting-point at
the eastern extremity of the Hindu Kush, and trace the boundary with
Afghánistán. The frontier runs west and south-west along the Hindu Kush
to the Dorah pass dividing Chitrál from the Afghán province of Wakhan,
and streams which drain into the Indus from the head waters of the Oxus.
At the Dorah pass it turns sharply to the south, following a great spur
which parts the valley of the Chitrál river (British) from that of its
Afghán affluent, the Bashgol. Below the junction of the two streams at
Arnawai the Chitrál changes its name and becomes the Kunar. Near this
point the "Durand" line begins. In 1893 an agreement was made between
the Amir Abdurrahman and Sir Mortimer Durand as representative of the
British Government determining the frontier line from Chandak in the
valley of the Kunar, twelve miles north of Asmar, to the Persian border.
Asmar is an Afghán village on the left bank of the Kunar to the south of
Arnawai. In 1894 the line was demarcated along the eastern watershed of
the Kunar valley to Nawakotal on the confines of Bajaur and the country
of the Mohmands.
Thence the frontier, which has not been demarcated, passes through the
heart of the Mohmand country to the Kábul river and beyond it to our
frontier post in the Khaibar at Landikhána.
From this point the line, still undemarcated, runs on in a
south-westerly direction to the Safed Koh, and then strikes west along
it to the Sikarám mountain near the Paiwar Kotal at the head of the
Kurram valley. From Sikarám the frontier runs south and south-east
crossing the upper waters of the Kurram, and dividing our possessions
from the Afghán province of Khost. This line was demarcated in 1894.
At the south of the Kurram valley the frontier sweeps round to the west
leaving in the British sphere the valley of the Tochí. Turning again to
the south it crosses the upper waters of the Tochí and passes round the
back of Wazíristán by the Shawal valley and the plains about Wána to
Domandí on the Gomal river, where Afghánistán, Biluchistán, and the
North West Frontier Province meet. The Wazíristán boundary was
demarcated in 1895.
~Political and Administrative Boundaries.~--The boundary described above
defines spheres of influence, and only in the Kurram valley does it
coincide with that of the districts for whose orderly administration we
hold ourselves responsible. All we ask of Wazírs, Afrídís, or Mohmands
is to leave our people at peace; we have no concern with their quarrels
or blood feuds, so long as they abide in their mountains or only leave
them for the sake of lawful gain. Our administrative boundary, which
speaking broadly we took over from the Sikhs, usually runs at the foot
of the hills. A glance at the map will show that between Pesháwar and
Kohát the territory of the independent tribes comes down almost to the
Indus. At this point the hills occupied by the Jowákí section of the
Afrídí tribe push out a great tongue eastwards. Our military frontier
road runs through these hills, and we actually pay the tribesmen of the
Kohát pass for our right of way. Another tongue of tribal territory
reaches right down to the Indus, and almost severs the Pesháwar and
Hazára districts. Further north the frontier of Hazára lies well to the
east of the Indus.
~Frontier with Biluchistán.~--At Domandí the frontier turns to the east,
and following the Gomal river to its junction with the Zhob at Kajúrí
Kach forms the boundary of the two British administrations. Henceforth
the general direction of the line is determined by the trend of the
Sulimán range. It runs south to the Vehoa pass, where the country of the
Patháns of the North West Frontier Province ends and that of the Hill
and Plain Biluches subject to the Panjáb Government begins. From the
Vehoa pass to the Kahá torrent the line is drawn so as to leave Biluch
tribes with the Panjáb and Pathán tribes with the Biluchistán Agency.
South of the Kahá the division is between Biluch tribes, the Marrís and
Bugtís to the west being managed from Quetta, and the Gurchánís and
Mazárís, who are largely settled in the plains, being included in Dera
Gházi Khán, the trans-Indus district of the Panjáb. At the south-west
corner of the Dera Ghází Khán district the Panjáb, Sind, and Biluchistán
meet. From this point the short common boundary of the Panjáb and Sind
runs east to the Indus.
~The Southern Boundary.~--East of the Indus the frontier runs south-east
for about fifty miles parting Sind from the Baháwalpur State, till a
point is reached where Sind, Rájputána, and Baháwalpur join. A little
further to the east is the southern extremity of Baháwalpur at 70° 8' E.
and 27° 5' N. From this point a line drawn due east would at a distance
of 370 miles pass a few miles to the north of the south end of Gurgaon
and a few miles to the south of the border of the Narnaul tract of
Patiála. Between Narnaul and the south-east corner of the Baháwalpur
State the great Rájputána desert, mainly occupied in this quarter by
Bikaner, thrusts northwards a huge wedge reaching almost up to the
Sutlej. To the west of the wedge is Baháwalpur and to the east the
British district of Hissár. The apex is less than 100 miles from Lahore,
while a line drawn due south from that city to latitude 27'5° north
would exceed 270 miles in length. The Jaipur State lies to the south and
west of Narnaul, while Gurgaon has across its southern frontiers Alwar
and Bharatpur, and near the Jamna the Muttra district of the United
Provinces.