Central American architecture is characterized by a fine feeling for
construction, and the execution is at once bold and aesthetically
effective. Amongst the various ruins, some of which represent the
remains of entire cities, while others are no more than groups of
buildings or single buildings, certain types persistently recur. The
commonest of such types are pyramids and galleries. The pyramids are
occasionally built of brick, but most usually of hewn stone with a
covering of finely-carved slabs. Staircases lead up to the top from one
or more sides. Some pyramids are built in steps. Usually the platform on
the top of a pyramid is occupied by buildings, the typical distribution
of which is into two parts, viz. vestibule and sanctuary. In connexion
with the pyramid there are various subsidiary structures, such as
altars, pillars, and sacrificial stones, to meet the requirements of
ritual and worship, besides habitations for officials and
"tennis-courts" for the famous ball-game like that played by the
Mexicans. The tennis-courts always run north and south, and all the
buildings, almost without exception, have a definite orientation to
particular points of the compass. Frequently the pyramids constitute
one of the four sides of a quadrangular enclosure, within which are
contained other pyramids, altars or other buildings of various
dimensions.
The normal type of gallery is an oblong building, of which the front
facing inwards to the enclosure is pierced by doors. These divide it
into a series of rooms, behind which again there may be a second series.
Occasionally the rooms are distributed round a central apartment, but
this is ordinarily done only when a second storey has to be placed above
them. The gallery-buildings may rise to as much as three storeys, the
height, size and shape of the rooms being determined by the exigencies
of vaulting. The principle of the true arch is unknown, so that the
vaults are often of the corbelled kind, the slabs of the side-walls
being made to overlap in succession until there remains only so narrow a
space as may be spanned by a single flat stone. At Mitla, where the
material used in the construction of the buildings was timber instead of
stone, the larger rooms were furnished with stone pillars on which the
beams could rest. The same principle recurs in certain ruins at
Chichenitza. The tops and sides of the doors are often decorated with
carved reliefs and hieroglyphs, and the entrances are sometimes
supported by plain or carved columns and pilasters, of which style the
serpent columns of Chichenitza afford the most striking example. On its
external front one of these galleries may have a cornice and
half-pillars. Above this is a plain surface of wall, then a rich frieze
which generally exhibits the most elaborate ornamentation in the whole
building. The subjects are geometrical designs in mosaic, serpents'
heads and human masks. The corners of the wall terminate in
three-quarter pillars, above which the angles of the frieze frequently
show grotesque heads with noses exaggerated into trunks. The roof of the
gallery is flat and occasionally gabled.
_Principal Sites._--Such are the general characteristics of Central
American buildings, but it must be understood that almost every site
exhibits peculiarities of its own, and the number of the ruined
settlements even as at present known is very large. The most
considerable are enumerated below.
_Yucatan_.--Of the very numerous ruins which are distributed over
Yucatan and the islands of the east coast the majority still await
exploration. A few words of special notice may be devoted to one or two
sites in the centre of the peninsula which have already become famous.
At Uxmal the buildings consist of five considerable groups, viz.--the
Casa del Adivino, which is a step-pyramid 240 ft. long by 160 ft. wide
and 80 ft. high, crowned by a temple 75 ft. long by 12 ft. wide; the
Casa de Monjas, a striking erection of four oblong buildings on an
extensive terrace; the Casa de Tortugas, Casa del Gobernador, and Casa
de Palomas, the last of which is a group of six galleries surrounding a
court. At Izamal there is a very imposing group of ruins, as yet quite
insufficiently explored. At Chichenitza, a city of first-rate
importance, situated 22 m. west of Valladolid, the ruins consist of
eight principal groups, the chief of which are as follows. The Casa de
Monjas, a three-storeyed building, attributable to several distinct
periods; the Caracol, a round structure with dome in imitation of a
snail-shell, showing evident traces of Mexican influence; El Castillo, a
large temple standing on a base 200 ft. long and 75 ft. high, approached
by staircases on all four sides, and furnished with serpent-pillars of a
kind unknown anywhere else except at Uxmal and Tula near Mexico; an
unnamed temple-pyramid, which is remarkable for a group of caryatid
figures; a tennis-court; and finally the Tiger Temple, which contains
marvellous coloured reliefs representing figures of warriors and
place-hieroglyphs, all executed in a distinctively Mexican style. Yet
another evidence of Mexican influence at Chichenitza is to be noted in
five figures of the so-called Chac-mol type, that is to say, horizontal
figures in which the arms are extended to the navel which is indicated
by a cup-like depression. This Chac-mol type is characteristic of such
sites as Tlascala and Cempoallan.
Other important sites in Yucatan are Chacmaltun, with fine
wall-paintings; Tantah, with remarkable pillared facades; the ruins of
Labna, Chunhuhub, and the caves of Loltun; and Xlabpak de Santa Rosa,
where there is a three-storeyed temple palace. Two sculptured reliefs
are of great interest; they represent a person holding a staff on which
is a figure of the god Ah-bolon-tzacab.
_Guatemala_.--The Guatemalan ruins are distributed over a wide area. The
most numerous and extensive are on the Usumacinta river. The most
important sites in that district are Piedras Negras, and Yaxchilan or
Menche Tinamit, where there are temples covered with sculptured reliefs
and hieroglyphic inscriptions, and stelae and slabs carved with human
figures placed in niches. In the Peten district, Tikal is famous for its
splendid sculptures representing Kukulkan and other divinities. Near the
modern city of Guatemala are the vast ruins of Guatemala-Mixco.
Chacujál, which Cortes visited on his expedition of 1524-1525 is very
possibly to be identified with the modern Pueblo Viejo on the river
Tinaja. Chaculá and Quen-Santo between the headwaters of the Rio de
Chiapas and the Rio Lacantun are two sites of a strongly marked local
character. Series of three pyramids are peculiar to these two
settlements, as also are pyramids with human figures on their platforms.
Stelae discovered at Quen Santo have a calendar character, which proves
that Mayan science had penetrated into what was probably the home of an
old Lacantun culture.
Santa Lucia Cozumalhuapa, on the Pacific slope of the Cordilleras, is a
very peculiar site. The ruins are those of a settlement which had
already been deserted before Alvarado's expedition of 1522. The
sculptures of gods, goddesses and other figures, executed on enormous
blocks of stone, show a distinctively Mexican character, with which,
however, various Mayan features are blended. They may perhaps be
attributed to some offshoot of the Nahua stock, probably the Pipil
Indians, which developed on lines of its own in this remote corner.
Near the frontier of Honduras are the remarkable ruins of Quirigua,
which rival Copan in importance and have suffered less from the ravages
of the climate. The ruins of temples and palaces contain gigantic stone
stelae of very fine workmanship, on which are sculptured human and
animal figures representing hieroglyphs of the calendar dates.
_Honduras_.--Copan, one of the most important seats of Mayan
civilization, lies close to the borders of Guatemala. The ruins comprise
great buildings, temples, pyramids, &c. and contain sculptures of the
highest interest. Especially noteworthy are altars in the form of a
turtle and stelae covered with hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphs are of the
kind usually found in such ruins, the meaning of which is so far clear
that it is known that the commencement of an inscription records certain
dates in the complicated calendar system of the Mayas. A collation of
these dates demonstrates that the most ancient on record are separated
from the most recent by an interval of only a few centuries. From this
it may be concluded that the Mayan civilization, whether or not it was
preceded by anything older, flourished for only a comparatively short
period, the beginning of which cannot be placed many centuries before
A.D. 1000.
According to Squier (_Honduras_, London, 1870, p. 75) the other
principal ruins of Honduras are to be found in plains of the department
of Comayagua, near Yarumela, near Lajamini, and in the ruined town of
Cururu. They are "large, pyramidal, terraced structures, often faced
with stones, conical mounds of earth and walls of stone." Further ruins,
such as those of Calamulla, Jamalteca, Maniana, Guasistagua, Chapuluca
and Chapulistagua, are found in the department of Comayagua in the side
valleys and adjoining tablelands. The most interesting and most
extensive are the ruins of Tenampua (Pueblo Viejo), about 20 m.
south-east of Comayagua. Here ramparts, defence works, terraced stone
mounds and numerous large pyramids are to be found. Squier found further
ruins in the west of Honduras, which have also been described in part by
Stephens, and were probably first mentioned in 1576 by Diego Garcia de
Palacio (_Carta dirigida al Rei de España_, published by Squier, New
York, 1860).
[Illustration: (Map of Central America)]
At Rio Ulloa are remains which testify to the existence of a large
population in past days. Possibly they may be identified with a site
of the name of Naco mentioned by Las Casas and by Bernal Diaz (_Histoire
véridique de la conquête de la Nouvelle Espagne_, translated by D.
Fourdanet, 2nd ed., Paris, 1877, ch. 178, p. 690).
_Chiapas_ (Mexico).--The principal site is Palenque, the ruins of which
were amongst the earliest of all to attract attention. The style of
architecture, with the gigantic vaults and singular comb-shaped gables,
distinguishes Palenque from Copan and Quirigua, which it surpasses also
in the unequalled magnificence of its sculptures. Five out of the
remarkably uniform series of buildings may be specially mentioned. They
are the Great Palace, a complex structure of galleries and courts
commanded by a three-storeyed tower, the Temples of the Cross, which are
galleries constructed on terraces and containing the well-known reliefs,
the Temple of Inscriptions, the Sun Temple and the Temple of the Relief.
The sculptured figures of Palenque are familiar from many reproductions.
The most characteristic groups represent a deity standing between
worshippers who hold a staff surmounted by the water-god
Ah-bolon-tzacab, the "god of the nine medicines." The inscriptions on
the famous Cross and in the Sun Temple contain calendar-datings which
are remarkable as showing a particular combination of numbers and
hieroglyphs, which does not occur elsewhere.
A whole series of sites is included within the geographical limits of
Chiapas, which from the archaeologist's standpoint must be considered as
belonging properly to Guatemala. The country has been quite
insufficiently explored.
_Oaxaca_ (Mexico).--The bulk of the population of the province of Oaxaca
is composed of a distinct racial group, best represented by the
Zapotecs, who have been for an unknown length of time the intermediaries
between the Nahua civilization of Mexico on the west and the Mayan on
the east. The influence of the two separate currents may be detected in
the bastard calendar system no less than in the still undeciphered
inscriptions. The principal ruins are those of Mitla, the burial city of
the priests and kings of the ancient Zapotecs, which bear a quite
distinct character, though presenting certain analogies with the
Mexican. One of the chief structures is a step-pyramid, rising in three
steps to a height of 130 ft., another is a pyramid of brick. Besides
these there are courts, surrounded by palaces which represented
necropolises, the dwellings of the priests, of the chief priest, and of
the king (with an audience-hall). The wall paintings of the "palaces"
are especially admirable, and it is to be noted that the deities
represented in them are those of the Mexican pantheon.
Monte Alban is interesting for the definitely Zapotec character of its
sculptures. Quiengola near Tehuantepec is a site with extensive ruins
including a fine tennis court.
_British Honduras_.--The antiquities of British Honduras have been but
little investigated. In the scanty literature relating to them a few
accounts of ruined places are to be found. In style these buildings
closely resemble those of the neighbouring Yucatan. The ruins in the
colony New Boston, mentioned by Froebel (_Central America_, p. 167), are
of this kind. F. de P. Castells (see _American Antiquarian_, Chicago,
1904, vol. xxvi. pp. 32-37) describes the ruins, in the north of the
colony, of "Ixim chech," supposed to be the Indian form of the English
name "Indian Church." They are on the road to the Lake of Yaxha (green
water), where further ruins are to be found. Thomas Gann gives detailed
accounts of numerous mounds also in the northern part of British
Honduras (see _19th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_,
Washington, 1900, part i. pp. 661-692, with plates). The most
interesting ruins are those which have been discovered in Santa Rita, at
the mouth of the New River, near the town of Corosal. Here wonderful
wall paintings in stucco came to light, which unfortunately Gann could
only save in part. The remainder were destroyed by Indians. It should be
remarked that a number of the mounds in Santa Rita were erected over
ruins of buildings which must therefore be of older date than the
mounds.
_Salvador_.--Pedro de Alvarado in his expedition of 1524 calls this
whole district _Cuscatan_ (Mex. _Cozcatlan_), that is, "Land of precious
stones, of treasures, of abundance." A further description of the land
is given by Palacio (l.c.) in 1576. Although there are numerous relics
of Mayan civilization buried in the earth; few ruins are to be seen on
the surface. Karl Sapper has described three large ruins: Cuzcatlan near
the capital, Tehuacan near S. Vicente, and Zacualpa on the Lake of Güija
in the extreme north-west of the country. The ruins show a distinct
affinity in style to those of the Mayan buildings in Guatemala, but they
are less fine and artistically perfect. Probably the central and western
districts of San Salvador were originally peopled by the same race of
Mayas, and these tracts of country were later settled by the
Mexican-speaking Pipiles.
A characteristic feature of the extensive ruins of Zacualpa is that the
pyramids and ramparts have perpendicular steps which are higher than
they are broad, and this peculiarity may be attributed to the influence
of the Maya tribes, who are related to the Mams of Guatemala.
_Decipherment of the Mayan Hieroglyphs._--The key to the decipherment,
so far as this has progressed at present, was furnished by the _Historia
de las Cosas de Yucatan_, a work written by Diego de Landa, the first
bishop of the country. This professed to give, with much other more or
less doubtful information, the full account of a calendar system
analogous to that of the Mexicans, which was said to have been used by
the Mayas (see MEXICO). The signs for each of the 20 days and for the 18
weeks of 20 days are figured by Landa. The first step was to compare
these with the hieroglyphic characters contained in the few Mayan
picture manuscripts (Codex Troano, Cortesianus, Peresianus, Dresden
Codex) which have survived the destructive fanaticism of the Spanish
missionaries. Förstemann's acute analysis detected that the bars and
dots which occur along the margin and in the body of the pictorial
scenes represented numerals, dots standing for each integer up to five,
while for five a bar was used. Next, it was found that the order in
which these numeral-signs are placed is regular, and that there are
never more than five in a group. It was established that the first sign
in such a group is that for the numeral 1 (_Kin_), the next that for 20
(_Uinal_), the third for 18×20 (_Tun_), the fourth for 18×20×20
(_Katun_), and the fifth for 18×20×20×20, that is to say, a cycle.
Had the available material for study been confined to the manuscripts,
little more progress would have been made beyond establishing subsidiary
details in the actual calendar. But when a similar analysis was applied
to the numerous monuments discovered and figured by Maudslay and others,
some important results of a general bearing were obtained. It was found
that many of the hieroglyphs of various forms upon the stones were also
of numeral value, and, what was of great importance, that they all
referred back to a single starting-point. This starting-point or zero is
no doubt the mythological date at which, according to Mayan cosmology,
the world was created. It is placed at nine or ten cycles before the
time when Copan and Quirigua were erected and the picture manuscripts
made. And it is by reference to it in the inscriptions that such
students as Seler, Goodman and others have been enabled, as already
stated, to obtain a record of the relative chronology of the most famous
monuments, to confine the period of their erection within the space of a
few centuries, and approximately to fix even their absolute antiquity.
Though much yet remains to be done, these are substantial results which
have already been won from the study of the hieroglyphs.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The _Antiquités mexicaines_ of Dupaix (Paris, 1834),
the _Voyage pittoresque et archéologique dans la province d'Yucatan_
of F. de Waldeck (Paris, 1838), and the _Monuments anciens du Mexique_
of Brasseur de Bourbourg and Waldeck (Paris, 1866) are quite out of
date and superseded. Stephen's _Incidents of Travel in Central
America, Chiapas and Yucatan_ (New York, 1841 and 1867), and B.M.
Norman's _Rambles in Yucatan_ (New York, 1843), are still of value,
the first-mentioned especially for the drawings by Catherwood. Among
the earlier writers may also be mentioned Charnay, _Les Anciennes
Villes du Nouveau Monde_ (Paris, 1885) and _Cités et ruines
américaines_ (Paris, 1863), the latter written in collaboration with
Viollet-le-Duc. Those, however, who are not primarily bibliophiles
will be content to study the following:--Maudslay (in Godman and
Salvin's _Biologia Centrali-Americana_, sect. _Archaeology_, London,
1889, &c.), a pioneer work containing the admirably presented results
of scientific exploration. Maler, in _Memoirs of the Peabody Museum_,
vol. ii. 1, 2 (Cambridge, U.S.A., 1901 and 1903); Holmes,
_Archaeological Studies among the Ancient Mexicans_ (Field Columbian
Museum, Chicago, 1895); E. Seler, _Die alten Ansiedelungen von
Chacula_ (Berlin, 1901), _Wandmalereien von Mitla_ (Berlin, 1895),
_Ges. Abhandlungen_, vol. i. (Berlin, 1902) and vol. ii. (1904),
_Fuhrer von Mitla_ (Berlin, 1906). E. Förstemann has contributed many
valuable essays to _Globus_ and the _Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie_
(Berlin); especially important are his commentaries to the _Dresden
Codex_ (Dresden, 1901), to the _Codex Tro-Cortesianus Madrilensis_
(Danzig, 1902), and to the _Codex Peresianus_ (Danzig, 1903). See also
"The Archaic Maya Inscriptions," by F.T. Goodman (in _Biologia
Centrali-Americana_, section _Archaeology_, viii., 1897), and _Report
of an Archaeological Tour in Mexico in 1881_, by A.F. Bandelier
(Boston, 1884). Valuable bibliographies have been made by Bandelier
(_Notes on the Bibliography of Yucatan and Central America_,
Worcester, U.S.A., 1881) and by K. Häbler ("Die Maya Literatur und der
Maya Apparat zu Dresden," in the _Zentralblatt fur Bibliothekwesen_,
xii., 1895). The Mayan picture MSS. have been published in facsimile
as follows:--the _Dresden Codex_ by Förstemann (Leipzig, 1880, and
Dresden, 1892), and the _Codex Tro_ by Brasseur de
Bourbourg--_Manuscrit Troano, étude sur le système graphique et la
langue des Mayas_ (Paris, 1869-1870), the _Codex Cortesianus_ by Léon
de Rosny (Paris, 1883) and by F. de Dios de la Rada y Delgado and F.L.
de Ayala y del Hierro (Madrid, 1893), the _Codex Peresianus_ by Duruy
and Brasseur de Bourbourg (Paris, 1864) and by L. de Rosny (Paris,
1887). The following relate especially to the ruins in Salvador:--_La
Universidad_, by D. Gonzalez, vol. ii. ser. 3, No. 6, p. 283 (San
Salvador, 1892-1893); _Le Salvador pré-Colombien, études
archéologiques_, by F. de Montcasus de Ballore (Paris, 1891), 25
plates; Karl Sapper in _Arch. fur Ethnologie_, 9, p. 3 ff. (1896).
(W. L.*)
CENTRAL FALLS, a city of Providence county, Rhode Island, U.S.A., on the
Blackstone river, about 5 m. N. of Providence. Pop. (1900) 18,167;
(1905, state census) 19,446, of whom 8792 were foreign-born, 4164 being
French-Canadian, 1587 being English, and 1292 being Irish; (1910)
22,754. It is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway. The
Blackstone furnishes good water-power, and the chief industry of the
city is the manufacture of cotton goods; other important industries are
the refining of copper and the manufacture of woollens, silks and
hair-cloth. The total value of the factory product in 1905 was
$5,090,984, being 12.9% more than in 1900. A settlement was established
here about 1763 and was first a part of Smithfield, and then, after
1871, of Lincoln. About 1780 a chocolate mill was erected, and from then
until 1827 the settlement was known as Chocolateville. It was
incorporated as the Central Falls Fire District of Smithfield in 1847,
and in 1895 was chartered as a city.
CENTRALIA, a city of Marion county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the S. part of
the state, about 62 m. E. of St Louis. Pop. (1890) 4763; (1900) 6721
(571 foreign-born); (1910) 9680. The city is served by the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy, the Illinois Central, the Illinois Southern, and
the Southern railways; the first two have repair shops here. Centralia
is situated in the central part of southern Illinois, popularly known as
"Egypt." Among its manufactures are window glass, envelopes, cigars,
concrete blocks and flour. In and near the city coal is mined, and
apples, strawberries and other fruits are raised, and the city is a
shipping point for coal and fruit. Centralia was first settled in 1853,
and was first chartered as a city in 1859.
CENTRAL INDIA, a collection of native states in India forming a separate
agency, which must not be confounded with the Central Provinces. The
Central India agency was formed in 1854, when Sir R. Hamilton was
appointed agent to the governor-general. It lies between 21° 24' and 26°
52' N. and between 74° 0' and 83° 0' E., and may be said to consist of
two large detached tracts of country which, with Jhansi as a pivot,
spread outwards east and west into the peninsula, reaching northward to
within some 30 m. of Agra, and southward to the valley of the Nerbudda
and the Vindhya and Satpura ranges. The total area is 78,772 sq. m. It
is bounded on the N. and N.E. by the United Provinces, on the W. and
S.W. by Rajputana, some native states of the Bombay presidency, and
Khandesh. The Central Provinces and the Bengal district of Chota Nagpur
enclose it on the S. and E., while the Jhansi district of the United
Provinces separates the two tracts.
Central India may be divided into three great natural divisions: the
highlands of the Malwa plateau, with a mean elevation of some 1500 ft.
above sea-level; the low-lying country some 600 ft. above sea-level,
comprising the greater part of the eastern section of the agency; and
the hilly tracts, which lie mostly to the south. The Malwa plateau
consists of great undulating plains, separated by flat-topped hills,
whose sides are boldly terraced, with here and there a scarp rising
above the general level; it is covered with long grass, stunted trees
and scrub, which owing to the presence of deciduous plants is of a
uniform straw colour, except in the rains. The foundation of this
plateau is a bed of sandstone and shales belonging to the Vindhyan
series. This bed, which stretches east and west from Sasseram to
Neemuch, and north and south from Agra to Hoshangabad, comprises the
whole of the agency except the northern part of Bundelkhand. On the
plateau itself the sandstone is generally overlaid by the Deccan trap, a
blackish-coloured basaltic rock of volcanic origin, the high level
tableland having been formed by a succession of lava flows, the valleys
of Central India being merely "denudation hollows" carved out by the
action of rain and rivers. It is apparently the northern limit of what
was once a vast basaltic plain stretching from Goona to Belgaum, "one of
the most gigantic outpourings of volcanic matter in the world." The
sandstone bed on which it rests is visible at a point just north of
Goona, and in a small area round Bhilsa and Bhopal, as it is in those
places freed from the layer of trap. The low-lying land includes roughly
that part of the agency which lies to the east of the plateau and
comprises the greater part of the political divisions of Bundelkhand and
Baghelkhand and the country round Gwalior. The formation save in north
Bundelkhand is sandstone of the Vindhyan series, free as a rule from
"trap." In the north of Bundelkhand the prevailing rock is gneiss and
quartz. The quartz takes the shape of long serrated ridges, which are in
many places a characteristic feature of the landscape. Trap appears here
and there in intrusive dykes. The hilly tracts lie chiefly to the south
of the agency, where the Vindhya, Satpura and Kaimur ranges are met
with. The country is rough forest and jungle land little used for
cultivation. The greater part of Central India is covered with the
well-known "black cotton soil," produced by the disintegration of the
trap rock. It is a very rich loamy earth, possessing great fertility and
an unusual power of retaining moisture, which makes artificial
irrigation little needed. Opium and millet are the principal crops grown
upon it. The ordinary "red soil" covers a large part of northern
Bundelkhand, and as it requires much irrigation, tanks are a special
feature in this country. Ethnologically as well as climatically the
differences between the plateau and the eastern part of the agency are
distinct and the languages markedly so. The plateau is inhabited by
pure-blooded Rajput races, whose ancestry can be traced back for
centuries, with all their numerous offshoots. The inhabitants of the
low-lying country are also Rajputs, but their descent is mixed and as a
rule the families of the plateau will have no marriage connexion with
them. The races of the hilly tracts are semi-civilized tribes, who often
flee at the mere sight of a white man, and have as yet been but little
affected by the Hindu religion of their Rajput rulers. Of the climate of
the plateau, Abul Fazl, the author of the _Ain-i-Akbari_, says: "The
climate is so temperate that in the winter there is no occasion for warm
clothing, nor is it necessary in summer to cool the water with
saltpetre. But in the four rainy months the night here is cold enough to
render a quilt necessary." The rains of the south-east monsoon reach
Central India as a rule about the 12th of July, and last until the end
of September.
_Administrative Divisions._--The Central India agency is divided for
administrative purposes into eight units, two classed as residencies and
six as agencies. These are the residencies of Gwalior and Indore, and
the agencies of Baghelkhand, Bhopal, Bhopawar, Bundelkhand, Indore and
Malwa. But these divisions are purely an artificial grouping for the
purposes of the British government, the original native divisions
consisting of 16 states and 98 minor states and estates. The 15 large
states are Gwalior, Indore, Rewa, Bhopal, Dhar, Barwani, Datia, Orchha,
Charkhari, Chhattarpur, Panna, Dewas (senior branch), Dewas (junior
branch), Jaora and Ratlam. At the close of the Pindari War in 1818 the
whole country that is now under the Central India agency was in great
confusion and disorder, having suffered heavily from the extortions of
the Mahratta armies and from predatory bands. It had been the policy of
the great Mahratta chiefs, Holkar and Sindhia, to trample down into
complete subjection all the petty Rajput princes, whose lands they
seized and from whom they levied heavy contributions of money. Many of
these minor chiefs had been expelled from their possessions, had taken
refuge in the hills and forest, and retaliated upon the Mahratta
usurpers by wasting the lands which they had lost, until the Mahrattas
compounded for peace by payment of blackmail. In this state of affairs
all parties agreed to accept the interposition of the British government
for the restoration of order, and under Lord Hastings the work of
pacification was effected. The policy pursued was to declare the
permanency of the rights existing at the time of the British
interposition, conditionally upon the maintenance of order; to adjust
and guarantee the relations of subordinate and tributary chiefs to their
superiors so as to prevent all further disputes or encroachments; and to
settle the claims of the ousted landholders, who had resorted to pillage
or blackmail, by fixing grants of land to be made to them, or settling
the money allowances to be paid to them. The general result was to place
all the privileges, rights and possessions of these inferior chiefs
under the guarantee or protection of the British government, to whom all
disputes between the superior and inferior states must be referred, and
whose decision is final upon all questions of succession to hereditary
rights or rulership. The states have no general ethnological affinity,
such as exists in Rajputana. Their territories are in many cases neither
compact nor continuous, consisting of a number of villages here and
there, with a nucleus of more or less importance round the chief town.
Their relations to the government of India and to each other present
many variations. Ten of them are under direct treaty with the government
of India; others are held under _sanads_ and deeds of fealty and
obedience; while a third class, known as the mediatized states, are held
under agreements mediated by the British government between them and
their superior chiefs.
_Population._--The total population of the Central India agency in 1901
was 8,628,781, showing a decrease during the decade of 16.4%.
Considerable losses were caused by the famines of 1897-1898 and
1899-1900, which were severely felt, especially in Bhopal and Malwa. The
greater part of the population of Central India is of the Hindu
religion, but a few Mahommedan groups still exist, either traces of the
days when the Mogul emperors extended their sway from the Punjab to the
Deccan, or else the descendants of those northern adventurers who hired
out their services to the great Mahratta generals. Of the first Bhopal
is the only example, while Jaora is the only notable instance of the
other. Roughly there are four great sections of the population: the
Mahratta section, who belong to the ruling circles; the Rajputs, who are
also hereditary noblemen; the trading classes, consisting chiefly of
Marwaris and Gujaratis; and lastly, the jungle tribes of Dravidian
stock. The Mahrattas are foreigners, and, though rulers of the greater
part of Central India, have no true connexion with the soil and are
little met with outside cities, the vicinity of courts, and
administrative centres. The Rajputs with all their endless ramifications
form a large portion of the population. Originally invaders, they have
so long held a stake in the soil that they have become almost part of
the indigenous population. The Marwaris hold practically all the trade
of Central India, with the exception of the Bora class of Mahommedans.
They are either Vaishnavite Hindus or else Jains. Their advent into
Central India dates, except in the case of one or two families, from the
time of the Mahratta invasion only. The Jain portion of this community
is very wealthy. The last section, that of the jungle tribes, is mostly
of Dravidian or mixed Aryo-Dravidian origin, these tribes being the
modern representatives of the former rulers and inhabitants of this
country.
The British agent to the governor-general resides at Indore, and there
are British cantonments at Mhow, Neemuch and Nowgong. The whole country
is fairly provided with railways, largely at the expense of Sindhia.
CENTRAL PROVINCES AND BERAR, a province of British India, which was
formed in October 1903 by the amalgamation of the Central Provinces and
the Hyderabad Assigned Districts. The total area of the provinces is
113,281 sq. m., and the population on that area in 1901 was 10,847,325.
As is shown by its name the province is situated in the centre of the
Indian peninsula, comprising a large proportion of the broad belt of
hill and plateau country which separates the plains of Hindustan from
the Deccan. It is bounded on the N. and N.E. by the Central India
states, and along a small strip of the Saugor district by the United
Provinces; on the W. by Bhopal, Indore and the Khandesh district of
Bombay; on the S. by Hyderabad and the large _zamindari_ estates of the
Madras presidency; and on the E. by these latter estates and the
tributary states of Bengal. In October 1905 most of Sambalpur and five
Oriya-speaking hill-states were transferred from the Central Provinces
to Bengal, while the Hindi-speaking states of Chota Nagpur were
transferred from Bengal to the Central Provinces. The province,
therefore, now consists of the five British divisions of Jubbulpore,
Nerbudda, Nagpur, Chhattisgarh and Berar, which are divided into the
twenty-two districts of Saugor, Damoh, Jubbulpore, Mandla, Seoni,
Narsinghpur, Hoshangabad, Nimar, Betul, Chhindwara, Wardha, Nagpur,
Chanda, Bhandara, Balaghat, Raipur, Bilaspur, Amraoti, Akola, Ellichpur,
Buldana and Wun; and the fifteen tributary states of Makrai, Bastar,
Kanker, Nandgaon, Kairagarh, Chhuikhadan, Kawardha, Sakti, Raigarh,
Sarangarh, Chang Bhakar, Korea, Sirguja, Udaipur and Jashpur.
Central Provinces.
The Central Provinces are divided into two parts by the Satpura range
of hills (q.v.), which runs south of the Nerbudda river from east to
west; so that, speaking generally, it consists of districts north of
the Satpuras, districts on the Satpura plateau, and districts south of
the Satpuras. North of the Satpuras is the rich valley of the
Nerbudda, which may be said to begin towards the north of the
Jubbulpore district and to extend westward through the district of
Narsinghpur as far as the western limit of Hoshangabad, a distance of
nearly 300 m. The elevation of the valley above the sea varies from
1400 ft. at Jubbulpore to 1120 at Hoshangabad. In breadth it is about
30 m., extending between the Satpuras and the southern scarp of the
Vindhyas. This great plain, 10,613 sq. m. in extent, contains for the
most part land of extreme fertility. The continuation of the valley
west of Hoshangabad forms the northern portion of the district of
Nimar, the farther limit of which touches the Khandesh district of the
Bombay presidency. Towards the river, though rich in parts, this tract
of country is generally wild and desolate, but nearer the base of the
hill range there is a large natural basin of fertile land which is
highly cultivated. South of the Satpuras lies the great plain of
Chhattisgarh at a mean elevation above the sea of 1000 ft.; it has an
area of 23,000 sq. m., and forms the upper basin of the Mahanadi.
Farther to the west and again divided off by hills is the great plain
of Nagpur, extending over 24,000 sq. m. Its general surface inclines
towards the south from 1000 ft. above the sea at Nagpur to 750 ft. at
Chanda. To the south the province is shut in by the wide mountainous
tract which stretches from the Bay of Bengal through Bastar to the
Godavari, and west of that river is continued onward to the rocky
ridges and plateaus of Khandesh by a succession of ranges that enclose
the plain of Berar along its southern border.
Berar.
Berar consists mainly of the valley lying between the Satpura range of
mountains in the north and the Ajanta range in the south. The
Gawilgarh hills, a range belonging to the Satpura mountains, form the
northern border. On the east the frontier is marked by the Wardha
river down to its confluence with the Penganga, and on the south by
the Penganga for about two-thirds of the frontier's length. The tract
is half surrounded on the east, north and north-west by the Central
Provinces, with which it is amalgamated. In addition to the Melghat
mountain tract which walls it in on the north, Berar is divided into
two sections, the Payanghat or lowland country, bounded on the north
by the Gawilgarh hills, and on the south by the outer scarps of the
Ajanta range, and the Balaghat or upland country above the Ajanta
ridge, sloping down southwards beyond the ghats or passes which lead
up to it. The Payanghat is a wide valley running up eastward between
this ridge and the Gawilgarh hills, varying in breadth from 40 to 50
m., and broader towards the end than at its mouth. It contains all the
best land in Berar; it is full of deep, rich, black alluvial soil, of
almost inexhaustible fertility, and it undulates sufficiently to
maintain a natural system of drainage, but there is nothing
picturesque about this broad strip of champaign country. The upland
tract, on the contrary, is diversified with low-lying plains, high
plateaus, fertile bottoms and rocky wastes, and is rendered
picturesque by rivers and groves.
_Natural Features_.--The provinces may be divided into two tracts of
upland and three of plain, consisting of the Vindhya and Satpura
plateaus, and the Berar, Nagpur and Chhattisgarh plains. To the north
the districts of Saugor and Damoh form the southern boundary of the
Vindhyan escarpment. In this region the sandstone rocks are generally
overlaid with heavy black soil formed from the decaying trap, which is
principally devoted to the cultivation of the spring crops, wheat and
grain, while rice and hill millets are sown in the lighter and more
sandy soils. Next, the long and narrow valley of the Nerbudda from
Jubbulpore to Hoshangabad is formed of deep alluvial deposits of
extreme richness and excellently suited to the growth of wheat. To the
south of the Nerbudda the Satpura range stretches across the province,
containing the greater part of five districts, its crystalline and
sandstone rocks rising in places through the superficial stratum of
trap, and with large areas of shallow stony land still covered to a
great extent with forest interspersed by black-soil valleys of great
fertility. In the latter are grown wheat and other spring crops, while
the lighter kinds of rice and the hill millets are all that the poorer
land can bear. To the south of the Satpuras and extending along its
base from west to east lie successively the Berar, Nagpur and
Chhattisgarh plains. The surface soil of Berar is to a great extent a
rich black vegetable mould; and where this surface soil does not
exist, there are muram and trap with a shallow upper crust of inferior
light soil. The Nagpur country, drained by the Wardha and Wainganga
rivers, contains towards the west the shallow black soil in which
autumn crops like cotton and the large millet, _juar_, which do not
require excessive moisture, can be successfully cultivated. The
eastern part of the Nagpur country and the Chhattisgarh plain,
comprising the Mahanadi basin, form the great rice tract of the
province, its heavy rainfall and hard yellowish soil rendering it
excellently adapted for the growth of this crop.
_Climate_.---As regards climate the districts of the Central Provinces
are generally divided into hot and cool ones. In the latter division
are comprised the two Vindhyan districts of Saugor and Damoh,
Jubbulpore at the head of the Nerbudda valley, and the four Satpura
districts of Mandla, Seoni, Betul and Chhindwara, which enjoy, owing
to their greater elevation, a distinctly lower average temperature
than the rest of the province. The ordinary variation is from 3 to 4
degrees, the mean maximum reading in the shade in a cooler district
being about 105° as against 108° in the hotter ones for the month of
May, and 79° as against 83° for the month of December. In the cold
weather the temperature in Nagpur and the other hot districts is about
the same as in Calcutta and substantially higher than that of northern
India. The climate of Berar differs very little from that of the
Deccan generally, except that in the Payanghat valley the hot weather
may be exceptionally severe. The rainfall of the province is
considerably heavier than in northern India, and the result of this is
a cooler and more pleasant atmosphere during the monsoon season. The
average rainfall, before it was affected by the abnormal seasons which
followed 1892, was 51 in., varying from 33 in. in Nimar to 65 in
Balaghat. In the autumn months malarial fever is prevalent in all
thickly forested tracts and also in the rice country; but on the whole
the province is considered to be healthy, and as the rains break
fairly regularly in June and produce an immediate fall in the
temperature, severe heat is only experienced for a period of from two
to three months.
_Agriculture_.--Broadly speaking, the northern districts of the
province produce principally cold weather crops, such as wheat and
grain, and the eastern ones principally rice. At the beginning of the
decade 1891-1901 wheat was the staple product of the Vindhyan and
Nerbudda valley districts, and was also grown extensively in all the
Satpura districts except Nimar and in Wardha and Nagpur. Cotton and
juar were produced principally in Nimar, Nagpur, Wardha and the
southern portion of Chhindwara, and the latter also in Chanda. In the
Satpura districts the inferior soil was and is principally devoted to
hill millets. Rice is an important crop in Damoh, Jubbulpore, Mandla,
Seoni and Chanda, and is the chief staple of Bhandara, Balaghat, and
the two eastern districts of Raipur and Bilaspur. The staple crops of
Berar are cotton and juar. The succession of bad seasons which marked
the end of the decade affected the distribution of the principal
crops, but with the advent of more prosperous seasons things tend to
return to their old level.
_Industries_.--The only important industries are connected with cotton
and coal. In 1904 the total number of factories was 391, almost
entirely cotton presses and ginning factories, which received an
immense impetus from the rise in cotton prices. In 1896 a brewery was
established at Jubbulpore. Two coal-mines are worked in the Central
Provinces, at Warora and Mopani, to each of which there is a branch
line of railway. In 1903-1904 there was a total yield of 160,000 tons,
valued at about £45,000. In connexion with the Warora colliery there
is a fire-clay business. The Mopani colliery, which dates back to
1860, is worked by a joint-stock company.
_Trade_.--The trade of the Central Provinces is conducted mainly by
rail with Bombay and with Calcutta. The chief imports are cotton piece
goods, cotton twist, salt, sugar, provisions, railway materials, raw
cotton, metals, coal, tobacco, spices and kerosene oil. The chief
exports are raw cotton, rice, wheat, oil-seeds, hides and lac. The
exports of wheat are liable to extreme fluctuations, especially during
famine periods.
_Railways_.--Until recently, the only railway in the Central Provinces
was the Great Indian Peninsula, with two branches, one terminating at
Nagpur, the other at Jubbulpore, whence it was continued by the East
Indian system to Allahabad. The Bengal-Nagpur line has now opened up
the eastern portion of the country, bringing it into direct connexion
with Calcutta; and a new branch of the Indian Midland, from Saugor
through Damoh, has been partly constructed as a famine work. Large
portions, however, in the hilly centre and in the south-east, are
still remote from railways.
_Administration_.--The administration of the province is conducted by
a chief commissioner on behalf of the governor-general of India in
council, assisted by members of the Indian civil service, provincial
civil service, subordinate civil service, district and assistant
superintendents of police, and officers specially recruited for
various departments. The form of the administration of Berar was in
1903 entirely reorganized. Under the original settlement concluded by
the treaties of 1853 and 1860 the revenues of the province were
assigned primarily for the maintenance of the Hyderabad contingent,
such surplus as accrued from year to year being made over to the
nizam, while the province itself was administered in trust by the
government of India through the resident at Hyderabad. In November
1902 a fresh settlement was arranged and Berar was leased in
perpetuity to the British government in return for an annual rental of
25 lakhs. It remained under the administration of the resident until
the 1st of October 1903, from which date it was amalgamated with the
Central Provinces for administrative purposes. As the immediate result
of this change the offices of heads of departments in Berar, except
the judicial commissionership and the conservatorship of forests, were
amalgamated with the corresponding appointments in the Central
Provinces, and Berar is now treated as one of the divisions of that
province for purposes of revenue administration, with a divisional
commissioner as its immediate head.
_Population_.--The population of the Central Provinces and Berar as
now defined according to the census of 1901 was 10,847,325, and is of
very diverse ethical construction, having been recruited by
immigration from the countries surrounding it on all sides. There are
six main divisions of the people: the Dravidian tribes, who formerly
held the country; Hindi-speaking immigrants from the north and
north-west into Saugor, Damoh, the Nerbudda valley and the open
country of Mandla and Seoni; Rajasthani-speaking immigrants from
Central India into Nimar, Betul and parts of Hoshangabad, Narsinghpur
and Chhindwara; Marathi-speaking immigrants from Bombay into Berar,
the Mahratta districts and the southern tahsil of Betul; the Telugu
castes in the Sironcha and Chanda tahsil of Chanda and the south of
Bastar; and the Hindu immigrants into Chhattisgarh, who are supposed
to have arrived many centuries ago when the Haihaya dynasty of
Ratanpur rose into power.
_Language_.--Owing to the diversity of race, the diversity of language
is equally great. Thirty languages and a hundred and six dialects are
found in the Central Provinces alone, and twenty-eight languages and
sixty-eight dialects in Berar. The chief of these languages are
Western Hindi, Eastern Hindi, Rajasthani, Marathi, Oriya, Telugu and
Dravidian dialects. Of these last the chief dialects are Gondi, Oraon
or Kurukh, Kandhi and Kanarese, of which Gondi is by far the most
important. There are also the Munda languages, of which the chief are
Korku, Kharia and Munda or Kol. The chief languages of Berar are
Marathi, Urdu, Gondi, Banjari, Hindi, Marwari, Telugu, Korku and
Gujarati.
_History_.--The authentic history of the greater part of the country
embraced in the Central Provinces does not begin till the 16th century
A.D. By the people of northern India the country was known as Gondwana,
after the savage tribes of Gonds by whom it was inhabited. The Mussulman
invaders of the Deccan passed it by, not caring to enter its mountain
fastnesses and impenetrable forests; though occasional inscriptions show
that parts of it had fallen from time to time under the dominion of one
or other of the great kingdoms of the north, e.g. of Asoka, of the
Guptas of Maghada, or of the ancient Hindu kingdom of Vidarbha (Berar);
and inscriptions and numerous discoveries of coins prove that, during
the middle ages, the open spaces were occupied by a series of Rajput
dynasties. Of these the most important was that of the Haihayas of
Ratanpur, a family which, settled from time immemorial in the Nerbudda
valley, had towards the close of the 10th century succeeded the Pandava
dynasty of Maha Kosala (Chhattisgarh) and ruled, though from the 16th
century onwards over greatly diminished territories, until its overthrow
by the Mahrattas in 1745. The second ruler of this dynasty, Ratnaraja,
was the founder of Ratanpur.
The inscriptional records cease abruptly in the 12th century, and no
more is known of the country until the rise of the Gond dynasties from
the 14th to the 16th centuries. The first of these is mentioned in 1398,
when Narsingh Rai, raja of Kherla, is said by Ferishta to have ruled all
the hills of Gondwana. He was finally overthrown and killed by Hoshang
Shah, king of Malwa. The 16th century saw the establishment of a
powerful Gond kingdom by Sangram Sah, who succeeded in 1480 as the 47th
of the petty Gond rajas of Garha-Mandla, and extended his dominions so
as to include Saugor and Damoh on the Vindhyan plateau, Jubbulpore and
Narsinghpur in the Nerbudda valley, and Seoni on the Satpura highlands.
Sangram Sah died in 1530; and the break up of his dominion began with
the enforced cession to the Mogul emperor by Chandra Sah (1563-1575) of
Saugor and Damoh and of that portion of his territories which afterwards
formed the state of Bhopal.
About 200 years after Sangram Sah's time, Bakht Buland, the Gond
chieftain of a principality seated at Deogarh in Chhindwara, having
visited Delhi, set about introducing the civilization he had there
admired. He founded the city of Nagpur, which his successor made his
capital. The Deogarh kingdom, at its widest extent, embraced the modern
districts of Betul, Chhindwara, Nagpur, with parts of Seoni, Bhandara
and Balaghat. In the south of the province Chanda was the seat of
another Gond dynasty, which first came into prominence in the 16th
century. The three Gond principalities of Garha-Mandla, Deogarh and
Chanda were nominally subject to the Mogul emperors. In addition to the
acquisitions made in the north at the expense of Garha-Mandla, the
Moguls, after the annexation of Berar, established governors at Paunar
in Wardha and Kherla in Betul. Having thus hemmed in the Gond states,
however, they made no efforts to assert any effective sovereignty over
them; the Gond rajas for their part were content with practical
independence within their own dominions. Under their peaceful rule their
territories flourished, until the weakening of the Mogul empire and the
rise of the predatory Bundela and Mahratta powers, with the organized
forces of which their semi-barbarous feudal levies were unable to cope,
brought misfortune upon them.
In the 17th century Chhatarsal, the Bundela chieftain, deprived the
Mandla principality of part of the Vindhyan plateau and the Nerbudda
valley. In 1733 the peshwa of Poona invaded Bundelkhand; and in 1735 the
Mahrattas had established their power in Saugor. In 1742 the peshwa
advanced to Mandla and exacted the payment of _chauth_ (tributary
blackmail), and from this time until 1781, when the successors of
Sangram Sah were finally overthrown, Garha-Mandla remained practically a
Mahratta dependency. Meanwhile the other independent principalities of
Gondwana had in turn succumbed. In 1743 Raghoji Bhonsla of Berar
established himself at Nagpur, and by 1751 had conquered the territories
of Deogarh, Chanda and Chhattisgarh. In 1741 Ratanpur had surrendered to
the Mahratta leader Bhaskar Pant without a blow, and the ancient Rajput
dynasty came to an end. In Chanda and Deogarh the Gond rajas were
suffered by Raghoji Bhonsla and his successor to carry on a shadowy
existence for a while, in order to give them an excuse for avoiding the
claims of the peshwa as their overlord; though actually decisions in
important matters were sought at Poona. Raghoji died in 1755, and in
1769 his son and successor, Janoji, was forced to acknowledge the
peshwa's effective supremacy. The Nagpur state, however, continued to
grow. In 1785 Mudhoji (d. 1788), Janoji's successor, bought from the
Poona court the cession of Mandla and the upper Nerbudda valley, and
between 1796 and 1798 this was followed by the acquisition of
Hoshangabad and the larger part of Saugor and Damoh by Raghoji II. (d.
1816). Under this latter raja the Nagpur state covered practically the
whole of the present Central Provinces and Berar, as well as Orissa and
some of the Chota Nagpur states.
In 1803 Raghoji joined Sindhia against the British; the result was the
defeat of the allies at Assaye and Argaon, and the treaty of Deogaon, by
which Raghoji had to cede Cuttack, Sambalpur and part of Berar. Up to
this time the rule of the Bhonsla rajas, rough warriors of peasant
extraction, had been on the whole beneficent; but, soured by his defeat,
Raghoji now set to work to recover some of his losses by a ruthless
exploitation of the peasantry, and until the effective intervention of
the British in 1818 the country was subjected to every kind of
oppression. After Raghoji II.'s death in 1816 his imbecile son Parsaji
was deposed and murdered by Mudhoji, known as Appa Sahib. In spite of a
treaty signed with the British in this year, Mudhoji in 1817 joined the
peshwa, but was defeated at Sitabaldi and forced to cede the rest of
Berar to the nizam, and parts of Saugor and Damoh, with Mandla, Betul,
Seoni and the Nerbudda valley, to the British. After a temporary
restoration to the throne he was deposed, and Raghoji III., a grandchild
of Raghoji II., was placed on the throne. During his minority, which
lasted till 1840, the country was well administered by a British
resident. In 1853, on the death of Raghoji III. without heirs, Nagpur
lapsed to the British paramount power. Until the formation of the
Central Provinces in 1861, Nagpur province, which consists of the
present Nagpur division, Chhindwara and Chhatisgarh, was administered by
a commissioner under the central government.
The territories in the north ceded in 1817 by the peshwa (parts of
Saugor and Damoh) and in 1818 by Appa Sahib were in 1820 formed into the
Saugor and Nerbudda Territories under an agent to the governor-general,
and in 1835 were included in the newly formed North-West Provinces. In
1842, in consequence of a rising, they were again placed under the
jurisdiction of an agent to the governor-general. Restored to the
North-West Provinces in 1853, they were finally joined with the Nagpur
province to constitute the new Central Provinces in 1861. On the 1st of
October 1903 Berar also was placed under the administration of the
commissioner of the Central Provinces (for history see BERAR). In 1905
the greater part of Sambalpur district, with the feudatory states of
Bamra, Rairakhol, Sonpur, Patna and Kalahandi, were transferred to
Bengal, while the feudatory states of Chang Bhakar, Korea, Surguja,
Udaipur and Jashpur were transferred from Bengal to the Central
Provinces.
During the decade 1891-1901 the Central Provinces suffered from famine
more severely than any other part of India. The complete failure of the
rain in the autumn of 1896 caused scarcity to develop suddenly into
famine, which lasted until the end of 1897. The total number of persons
in receipt of relief reached its maximum of nearly 700,000 in May 1897.
The expenditure on relief alone was about a million sterling; and the
total cost of the famine, including loss of revenue, amounted to nearly
twice that amount. During 1897 the death-rate for the whole province
rose to sixty-nine per thousand, or double the average, while the
birth-rate fell to twenty-seven per thousand. The Central Provinces were
stricken by another famine, yet more severe and widespread, caused by
the complete failure of the rains in 1899. The maximum of persons
relieved for the whole province was 1,971,000 in June 1900. In addition,
about 68,000 persons were in receipt of relief in the native states.
During the three years 1899-1902 the total expenditure on famine relief
amounted to about four millions sterling. Berar also suffered from the
famines of 1897 and 1900.
See _The Imperial Gazetteer of India_ (Oxford, 1908), x. 99, for list
of authorities.
CENTUMVIRI (_centum_, hundred; _vir_, man), an ancient court of civil
jurisdiction at Rome, probably instituted by Servius Tullius.[1] Its
antiquity is attested by the symbol and formula used in its procedure,
the lance (_hasta_) as the sign of true ownership, the oath or wager
(_sacramentum_), the ancient formula for recovery of property or
assertion of liberty. It is probably alluded to in Livy's account of the
Valerio-Horatian laws of 449 B.C. (Livy iii. 55, _Consules ... fecerunt
sanciendo ut qui tribunis plebis, aedilibus, judicibus, decemviris
nocuisset, ejus caput Jovi sacrum esset_). If the _judices_ here
mentioned are the _centumviri_, it is clear that they formed a tribunal
which represented the interests of the _plebs_. This is in accordance
with Cicero's account (_de Orat._ i. 38. 173) of the sphere of their
jurisdiction. He says this was mainly concerned with the property of
which account was taken at the census; it was therefore in their power
to make or unmake a citizen. They also decided questions concerning
debt. Hence the _plebs_ had an interest in securing their decisions
against undue influence. They were never regarded as magistrates, but
merely as _judices_, and as such would be appointed for a fixed term of
service by the magistrate, probably by the _praetor urbanus_. But in
Cicero's time they were elected by the _Comitia Tributa_. They then
numbered 105. Their original number is uncertain. It was probably
increased by Augustus and in Pliny's time had reached 180. The office
was probably open in quite early times to both patricians and plebeians.
The term is also applied in the inscriptions of Veii to the municipal
senates and Cures, which numbered 100 members.
AUTHORITIES.--Tigerström, _De Judicibus apud Romanos_ (Berlin, 1826);
Greenidge, _Legal Procedure of Cicero's Time_, pp. 40 ff., 58 ff., 182
ff., 264 (Oxford, 1901); Bethmann-Hollweg, _Der romische
Civilprozess_, ii. 53 ff. (Bonn, 1864); Pauly-Wissowa,
_Realencyclopadie_, iii. 1935 ff. (Wlassak). (A. M. Cl.)