Бардаман: История и разделение района в Западной Бенгалии

Bardhaman district ('/b//ɑ:r//d//ə/,/m//ə//n///, ; also spelled Burdwan or Barddhaman or Vardhaman) was a district in West Bengal. On 7 April 2017, the district was bifurcated into two districts: Purba Bardhaman and Paschim Bardhaman district. The headquarters of the district was Bardhaman, and it housed the cities of Asansol and Durgapur. Indian revolutionary Rashbehari Bose was born in Subaldaha village, Bardhaman district. Bengali poet Kumud Ranjan Mullick was born at Kogram and poet Kazi Nazrul Islam was born at Churulia in the same district. Notable persons like Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Akshay Kumar Datta, Jatindranath Sengupta were also born in erstwhile Bardhaman district. It was the seventh most populous district in India (out of 640) at the time of bifurcation.

Historians link the name of the district to the 24th and last Jain tirthankara, Mahavira Vardhamana, who came to preach in the area. A Jain image is in the collection of Vidyasagar Mandir in the Midnapur town. A Jaina brass plaque has been found from a place very close to Katwa (Burdwan district). Jaina figures of rare artistic quality have been discovered in the place. Quite a large number of the mutilated sculptures representing Jaina Tirthankara were noticed within the enclosure of the brick temple of Satdeulia in Burdwan district.

During the period of Jahangir this place was named Badh e dewan (district capital). The city owes its historical importance to being the headquarters of the Maharajas of Burdwan, the premier noblemen of lower Bengal, whose rent roll was upwards of 300,000. Archaeological excavations/ findings at Pandu Rajar Dhibi and Birbhanpur have indicated settlements in the Ajay and Damodar valleys in the Mesolithic age, around 5,000 BC. Not much is known about the early settlements and the period that followed till around 700 BC in ancient times when the area was referred to as Bardhamanbhukti, which was a part of the Rarh region. It was one of the sixteen janapad (In ancient times, districts were called Janapadas ) of ancient India. Large and powerful empires such as the Magadhas, Mauryas, Kushanas and Guptas held sway over the area and beyond it. In the 7th century AD, the area was part of the Gauda Kingdom, then ruled by Shashanka. It was subsequently ruled by the Palas and Senas, till Bakhtiyar Khilji captured it in 1199 AD. The early Muslim rulers ruled over major parts of Bengal from Gauda or Lakhnauti. In the Mughal period Bardhaman is mentioned as a mahal or pargana of Sarcar Sharifabad. Some western parts of Bardhaman was Gopbhum, ruled for many years by the Sadgope kings. The Gopbhum area later became part of the Shergarh and Senpahari parganas. In 1689, Raja Krishnaram Roy, of the Bardhaman Raj family, obtained a farman (royal decree) from Aurangzeb by which he was made the zamindar (landlord) of Bardhaman, and since then the Raj family's history became identical with that of the district. After the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire became weak and Murshid Quli Khan became the Nawab of Bengal, owning only nominal allegiance to the Mughal emperor. At that time Bardhaman was referred to as chakla, a change from the earlier pargana. Subsequently, during the reign of Alivardi Khan, the Bargis attacked and plundered Bardhaman. The Permanent Settlement ultimately led to the dismemberment of the Bardhaman estate. As the rajas often failed to pay the rent demands, some parts of the estate were auctioned off. However, there were bright spots. Mahatabchand was appointed additional member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council and in 1877 was allowed to use the title of His Highness before his name. Bijoy Chand Mahatab was conferred the title of Maharajadhiraj by Lord Minto in 1908. Uday Chand Mahtab took over in 1941 and served till abolition of the zamindary system in 1954, after independence of the country. Bardhaman district was bifurcated into two districts, Purba Bardhaman and Paschim Bardhman, on 7 April 2017. Great revolutionary Rashbehari Bose was born in village Subaldaha, Dist Purba Bardhaman.5

Bardhaman District had an area of 7,024 km2 and a population of 6,895,514 (2001 census). It was bounded on the north by Birbhum and Murshidabad districts, on the east by Nadia District, on the southeast by Hooghly District, on the southwest by Bankura and Purulia districts, and on the northwest by Dhanbad district of Jharkhand. The district had six sub divisions: Asansol, Sadar (North), Sadar (South), Durgapur, Kalna, and Katwa.

Burdwan district with its varied tectonic elements and riverine features, is a transitional zone between the Jharkhand plateau which constitutes a portion of peninsular shield in the west and Ganga Brahmaputra alluvial plain in the north and east. In general the Jharkhand plateau consists of the metasedimentary rocks of precambrian age, Gondwana sedimentary rocks, Rajmahal basalts and upper tertiary sediments. Laterite has developed on these older rocks as well as on early Quaternary sediments. To the south, the alluvial plain merges with Damodar kasain Subarnarekha deltaic plains. The western half of the district resembles a promontory jutting out from the hill ranges of Chotonagpur plateau and consists of barren, rocky and rolling country with a laterite soil rising into rocky hillocks, the highest being 227 m. These diversify the otherwise monotonous landscape and lend a special charm to the skyline around Asansol subdivision. Ajoy barakar divide is a convex plateau, the average altitude being 150 m. The gradient is westerly to the west and to the east it is northerly toward
Ajay and southerly toward Damodar below the latitude. The Ajoy Damodar inter stream tract is made up of several stows consisting of vales and low convex spurs which run in almost all directions except northeast and thus lends a very complicated character to local relief.

The river system in Burdwan includes the Bhagirathi Hooghly in the east, the Ajoy and its tributaries in the north, and the Dwarakeswar, the Damodar and its branches in the southwest. Besides, there are innumerable Khals and old riverbeds all over the area. The notable rivers and khals are Damodar, Bhagirathi, Barakar, Ajay, Dwarakeswar, Nonia, Singaram, Tamla, Kukua, Kunur, Tumuni, Khari, Banka, Chanda kanki nala, Behula, Gangur, Brahmani, Khandesvari, Karulia nala, Dwaraka or Babla, Koiya nala, Kandarkahal, Kanadamodar, Kananadi, Ghea, Kakinadi etc.

Different types of soil are encountered in topographical biological, hydrological, and geological conditions in the Burdwan district. In the west, coarse gritty soil blended with rock fragments is formed from the weathering of pegmatite, quartz veins and conglomeratic sandstones, where as sandy soil
characteristic of granite rocks and sandstones. This soil is reddish, medium to coarse in texture, acidic in reaction, low in nitrogen, calcium,
phosphate and other plant nutrients. Water holding capacity of this soil increases with depth as well as with the increase of clay portions. Towards the east alluvial soil attains an enormous thickness in the low level plains to the east. These soils are sandy, well drained and slightly acidic.

Burdwan was one of the premier districts in India in value of minerals. The
Raniganj coalfield was the birthplace of the Indian coal industry. Besides coal, important minerals found in the district are iron ores, calcium carbonate, abrasives, silica bricks and moulding sands, glass sands, building materials, manganese, bauxite, laterite etc.

The forest areas of the district are chiefly in the lateritic and red soil highlands in the Aushgram PS of Sadar subdivision and in the Asansol subdivision.

The district experiences a climate which is transitional between CWg and AW types, where 'C' stands for 'warm temperate rainy climates with mild winter', 'W' for 'dry winter not compensated for by total rain in the rest of the year', 'g ' for 'eastern Ganges type of temperature trend' and 'AW' for 'tropical savanna climates'. Average temperature in hot season is 30 C while at the cold season is 20 C. Average rainfall is 1496 mm. The cold season starts from about the middle of November and continues till the end of February. March to May is dry summerintervened by tropical cyclones and storms. June to September is wet summer while October and November is autumn.

According to the 2011 census Bardhaman district has a population of 7,723,663, or the US state of Virginia. This gives it a ranking of 7th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of Its population growth rate over the decade 2001 2011 was 12.01%. Barddhaman has a sex ratio of 943 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 77.15%.