Lathyrism Baghalpur IND Buchanan 1810-1811 Par Miles

7/29/2019 Lathyrism Baghalpur IND Buchanan 1810-1811 Par Miles

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AN ACCOUNT OF THE

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BY

F R A N C I S B U C H A N A NPrinted from the Bu chan an M S S . in the Ind iaOffice L ibra ry , with the perm ission of theSecretary of State for India in Council.

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1 72 FACTORS DETERM INING POPULAilONendowm ents, and tliey cannot endure the restraints whichEur opea n discipline requir es. The y fill up how ever theenormous police establishment which is here maintained,and, I believe, would be exceedingly willing to assist anyparty in a predatory warfare. Th e men serving in theregular police (Burukandaj) are superior both in know-ledge and appearance to those commonly found in Bengal ;bu t those paid in lands for militar y service are very in-different. It was reckoned that in the whole districtthere were 9210 men dedicated by birth to the use of armsand willing to be employ ed in this kind of service. Ofthese only 4045 had found regular employment at home,1580 had gone to oth er places in quest of employment,and 1110 strangers were here in addition employed. Themilitary service, therefore, makes very little drain on

population.Th e civil service rather gives an increase of popula-tion. In the whole district it was estimated that 1107men had gone to distant parts in quest of this employ-ment, and that 1260 strange rs had here found service.Comm erce makes little change on the population.A few Bangalese trad ers are settled in the wilder parts ,but most of the comm erce is carried on by natives. Thenumber of boats is very small, and even these are mostlymanned by people from the Furan iya district. In fact thepeople are of a very domestic turn, exceedingly unwillingto go abroad, and at home make very little exertion ;but there is in this a good deal of difference. In thewestern parts near the Ganges, and in the eastern cornertowards Mur shedabad, the people are more indu striousthan they are about Rajmahal, Kahaigang, and throughwhat is called the Janggaltari,

The drains on population are very small, and ingeneral the manners of both women and men are exceed-ingly strict. Th e number of pros titutes is trifling, andin most parts the women are watched with an uncommoncar e and severity, while they are so slovenly as in greatmeasu re to lose all personal attrac tions. Notwithstand-ing these circumsta nces, and an uninterrupted peace fora number of years, with a large extent of very fertile ter-ritory unoccupied, it would appear from the reports ofthe natives, that the popula tion is in some place on the

biSEASES OF BHAGALPURdiminution, and scarcely anywhe re is advancing withthat rapidity which might be expected. For this dimi-nution or slow progression of population various reasonsare assigned, and deserve especial notice.Th e system of prem ature marriages is carried to avery destructive length, and no doubt contributes to checkpopulation ; but not to a greater degree than in manyparts , where the population has made a rapid increase .T he widows, who adher e to the rigid rule of Hin ducelibacy, are here more numero us than in Bengal. Th ishowever is probably not more than sufficient to counte r-balance the superior strictness in the moral co nduct ofthe wives of Bhag alpur.The practice of inoculation is almost universal ; butthe few families that reject it, will in all probability con-tinue obs tinately to adh ere to their refusal ; for it hasbecome a rule of caste. Some of them are Moslems ofrank, who adh ere to the ir folly from a know ledge of thedoctrine which their prophet taught. The greaterprevalen ce of inocula tion in this distri ct than in som e ofthose already surveyed ought to have produced an increaseof popula tion; but other diseases are no doubt commonand it is to sickness that many attribu te the decrease inthe num ber of people. Th is I am persua ded is a mis-take ; for in the first place, the diseases peculiar to India,especially the Kor anda which chiefly affects propagatio n

are not near so common as towards the east; and fevers,the most common destroyer of mankind, are not near socommon as in Puraniya. In the next place, the most po-pulous part of the district, near Mu rshedab ad, is just thatwhere these two diseases are the most severe. It is true,that in Rajmahal, Paingti and Fayezullahgungj fevers arestated to be more common, but they are not near so fatal.The western parts of the district are, for a warm climate,uncommonly healthy, yet many parts there are very thin-ly inhabited.Fev ers'in general are not so dangero us as in E urop e,and it is only in the Eas tern corner of the district thata great proportion assume a bad form. Th is indeed issaid to have been only the case for about 17 or 18 years;for until then the vicinity of Mu rshed abad was by thenatives considered as rather salubrious ; but now a sad


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174 DISEA SES OF BHAGALPURrever se has taken place, and almost every year there is inthat part of the country a severe autumnal epidemic.Eve ryw here in the vicinity of the hills and w oods thevernal epidemic is more severe than in cultivated plains;but I no whe re heard that it equalled in severity the epi-demic of autumn.

Flux es, pituitou s and bilious (Aon g and shekumjari)are more common in spring than autumn ; but are neithervery frequent nor de structive. Choleras are far fromcommon.T h e peop le afflicted with both kinds of leprosy areviewed here with the same injustice that follows them inPuran iya. Th e most terrible in the Hindi dialect ismost co mm only called Ivor but is not near so common astow ards the S. E. That in which the skin becomes white,

on the contrary, is more frequent, and is most commonlycalled Cha rka. In general it is only partial, but Isaw several instances of complete albinos, with weak blueeyes, and white hair. Tw o of them were children bornof pare nts q uite black and appare ntly in good health ; butthe children were weaklyAt Ta rap ur in this distric t I saw two dwarfs, bothadult men : one of them was 3 feet 9'< inches high, andtolerably well made ; the other was somew hat sm aller,but he was rather distorted.T he different chronical swe llings are here muchrarer than in the distric ts hith erto surveyed. Perso nswho reside on the right bank of the Ganges seem littlesubject to the swelling which affects the throat, and mostof those in the divisions south from the great river whohave this disease have been affected during a residence,of considerable length on the opposite bank. Th e peoplewho live on the bank of the Man river a re considered aspeculiarly liable to this disease. It is said that Ha rad attaSin gha , a neighb ouring Zem indar, dug there a fine well(Inclara,) which was lined with brick. W hile this wellcontin ued in repair the disease is said to have appearedin the vicinity less frequently ; but since the water has

become bad, the disord er has become as common as ever.The se circumstances would seem to point out a certaincondition of the water used as the cause of the dise ase ;and it may be supposed, th at the water of the Ganges is

CAUSES OF TH E WANT OF POPULATION 175purified by a long course, from the quality that producesthis disease, and which seems to be peculiar to the waterof Alpin e region s. I am however told that the people ofthe No rthe rn Kill tribe are subject to this com plaint, andtheir hills have nothing approa ching to an Alpi neelevation.On passing the boundary of the Mogul province ofBengal the Sarcoce le becomes a more rare.dis ease ; andseems to diminish more and more towards the west.In this district the fever, accompanied by an enlarge-ment in the glands of the neck, is very rare; but that at-tributed to a diseased s tate of the nose is now e xceeding-ly common and troublesome ; for it usually attracks thosewho are liable to it almost every month , and lasts twoor three days at a time. Form erly, as it is said, thisdisease was not com mon , and it is for only five or sixyears that it has become so preva lent.T he people of this d istrict, and those of the hilltribes more particularly, are much subject to rheumatism,which seems to be owing to a want of sufficient clo thin gand to their supplying the want in cold weather by hang-ing much over a fire.T o return to a con sideration of the causes of thewant of people, in some parts of the distric t, as fromRajmahal to Kaha lgang, it is by many attrib uted to thefrequent m arching of troops and to the passage of travel-lers, especially E urop ean s, and it is alleged that both haveso shamefully plundere d the country that it has been dese rt-ed. Alt houg h instances of plunder by troops and by theservants of Eu ropea ns travellin g through the country haveundoubtedly occurred, yet I am persuaded that bothparties have in general take n very great pre cautions to avoidinjury, and that the complaints, which the natives of theseparts are in the habit of making, are not only in gene ralfalse but are done for the purpose of enhancing the pric eof everything that the y sell, and for the purp ose of sup-porting a base system of mendicity into which they havefallen. The y find, that these complaints of injustice in-duce travellers, from a laudable desire of supporting thenatural charac ter, to overlook imposition, and to o pentheir purses. From the attention to military discipline, andfrom the honou rable disposition, which I am persuaded


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204 PANDITS AND BRAHMANS MEDICtNE AND SURGERY 20 5rs ?Besides the teachers, there are in the whole distric tabout 50 persons called Pandits, who have been educatedregularly in gramm ar and law ; none of them, havestudied metaphysics ; but most of them, if not all, have a

smattering of Jyotish, so as to be able at least to calculatenativities and fortunate times. On e of them, Gau ri-datta Pathak of Mu ngger, the most sensible man that I.have been able to find in that vicinity as an assistan t,constructs almanacks.Samb hunath Ghosh, a Bengalese Kayastha of Cham-pana gar, and one or two Baidyas in the S. E . part of thedistric t, have studied Gram mar, but in general this andthe highe r sciences have been entirely reserved to thesacred order.Th e Brahm ans in the western p arts of the districthave reserved to themselves the exclusive privileges ofactin g as astrolog ers, sooth sayers , and wise men(Jyo tish). In the eastern parts the Daiv aggn as of Bengalhave made some intrusio n on th is valuable branch ofscience, which is here by far the most profitable. Am on gthe 50 Pandits above mentioned, 40 may practise this art,and perhaps 15 more are practit ioners , without havingreceived an education that entitles them to the degree ofPandit . Th e common D asakarma Brahm ans can tell for-tunate days for marriages, building houses, cultivating land,or such trifles. T hes e m en can read, but do not under-stand any composition in Sangskrita. The Daivaggnas ofthe east possess nearly a similar state of know ledge.Medicine is in rather a more creditable state than towardsthe east. Ab out 270 Sakadwipi Brahmans and a fewMaith ilas prac tise medicine. They in general knov*- m oreor less of San gsk rita, and have som e boo ks treating ondiseases and remedies, and written in that languag e. Agrea t part is com mitted to m emory, and a Slok orcouplet is on all [occasions] quo ted as of divine autho rityto remove all doub ts, and to aston ish the m ultitude,who do not unde rstand a word of it. In fact, whatI have said concerning those in Pura niya is appli-cable to those here. A t Bhagalpur, Mimgger, Raj-mahal, and Pratapgunj, are men who have regularpractice._ In other parts they are hired as servants,and receive mo nthly wages, am oun ting to from 10 to 20

rupees, partly given in land. In this district I did nothear of any other practitioners ol medicine, who possessedanyth ing like science, except eight men in Rajmahal,partly Brahmans, partly Kayasthas of Bengal, and partlyMuham medans. Th e Baidyas here have entirely relin-quished the profession of medicine. The practitioners whoexhibit medicine without having books, and in generalwitho ut being able to read, are called by vario us namesas in Puraniya. In the whole district there may be ofsuch 600, some of whom are old women.In the three chief towns are abou t 20 Jur rah s, whoevacuate the water of hydrocele, treat sores, and drawblood both by cutting a vein, and by a kind of imperfectcupping. They are by birth barbers.Th e midwives are the women of the lowest castes ,and merely cut the umbilical cord. Th e low people, whocast out devils, cure diseases and the bites of serp ents,and oppose the influence of witchcraft by incantation, areexceedingly num erous. In some parts the sameperson purs ues all bran ches of this profession, in oth ershe confines himself entirely to some one. On the whole,there may be about 15 or 16 hundred persons whopreten d to a k nowledge of this mum mery. Th e lowcastes, that eat pork and drink spirits, are suppo sed tohave most skill in devils.A bran ch of these wiseac res practise inoculation forthe small-pox, and with the utmost success. Th enum ber stated to belong to this distric t is about 30,but many practitio ners come from adjacent dis tricts . Itis not here the custom for the inoculato r to repeatprayers. Some Brahmans and makers of garlandsperfo rm this office. I am informed tha t of tho sewho are seized with the sp ontan eous disease, notabove one in twenty dies. Th e o peration is m anagedexactly in the same man ner as in the distric ts alreadysurvey ed, and is attended with the most comp lete success,very few indeed dying . Th is success and th e g enera ladoption of the practice render the introd uction ofthe vaccine of very little importa nce. Mr . Hog gat Mung ger employed as subordinate vaccinator, cannotpro cur e one person to brin g a child without a bribe. Itis true that bribe is not high, being one ana or not quite


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206 WITCHCRAFTtwo pence, or about a clay's wages for a common labourer.On e from this might be led to suppose that pa ren ts her eare little interested in their children, w hen such a triflecan induce them to submit their offspring to a practicewhich they consider in any degree objectio nable . I donot however see any other mark of such want of affec-tion ; on the contrary, the pare nts of this dist ric t seemfully as fond of their children as anyw here else, and tothe amount of the bribe we must add the saving of thefee, that would be given to the inocuiator.In this district witchcraft (Jadu) is supposed to beexceedingly common. Th e people in the parts hithertosurveyed did not mention it so much as here, but whetherfrom believing in it more or less I cannot say. My nativeassistants seem to think that they concealed their belieffrom an extraor dinary fear ; for not one of themselves

seems to have the least doubt of the frequent prac tice orreality of the art. I suspect however, tha t in reality thepeople there are not so much afraid of the art as here ;for they seemed much more com munica tive than thepeople of this district, and the only talk that I heard ofit was in Ka mr up, especially at Goyalpara, where thewomen were accused of using witchcraft for delu dingtheir lovers. Much mo re desperate and unjustifiableviews are here attribu ted to the witches, and occasionvery great alarm lo most parents. Th e witches (Dain)here also are supposed to be women, some young andsome old. Th eir supposed practices would appear to befrom pure malice. It is thought, whenever one of thesewitches sees a fine child, by m eans of impre cationsaddre ssed to some unknown gods, who are pleased withsuch wor ship, that she des troy s its health, so that itpines away, and is deprived of reason, or dies. Unlessthe witch knows the real name of the child, her impreca-tions do no harm . On this account children are usuallycalled by some nickname, and their prope r one isconcealed ; and, as most par ents think their children fine,almost every one is alarmed, when in play his childrengo out of sight. T he children however are generallyfortified by hanging on them som ething tha t is consi-dered as a charm against spells. A t lihagalpur it wasstated to me, that about 25 children are supposed

WITCHES 207\. ^ annually to perish in that town from the malevolence of* ^ these witches. Some poor women, it may be suspected,are not unwilling to be considered as witches ; for, afterthey acqu ire this character, parents are alarmed wheneverthey app roa ch; and.Jafter having concealed their children,give the Dain some present to induce her to go away.


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41 6 THE GUNDLESvarietie s ; while in general the c haracte rs given to dis-tinguish what the botanists consider asdistinct speciesare not very applicable to m ark the kinds with whichone meets in India. Th e people here, as well as inthe adjacent part of Puraniya, talk of three kindsas distinc t, Gehungya, Narkatiya, and Raksa, and foreach kind have several synonyms. Th e Gehungya, Ifound, was also called Chauliya and Ba ra ; the two for-mer names are derived from its resemblance to wheat andrice ; the last name comes from its great size. This kindby the north ern mountaineers is called Naltu . It agreeswith the Holcus compaclus of the Encyclopedic, in havingits spike recurred ; but the grain is not so closely com-pacted as is described in that work. Th e Narkatiya Ihave not seen. The Raksa is also called Sisuya, andmay be the 4th variety of the Holcus Sorghum describedin the Encyclopedie, having an erect spreadin g spike.Janera is fitted for the same kinds of land with maize; butseems a very inferior grain, especially as it is very difficultto preserve from birds. In this district it seems to begradually giving way to the maize and will probably besoon altogether neglected.

The Bajra or Holcus spicatus is to be found in afew gard ens as a kind of curiosity , but in such smallquantities that it cannot be included in the tables ofproduce.Next to Janera the most considerable of the culmi-ferous crops is the gundles but it is chiefly confined tothe southe rn parts of the district, which in soil resembleMysore and this grain is the same w ith the Shamay,which in my account of that country has been so oftenmentioned, and is the Panicum milian of the Encyclope-die. Th ere is said to be another kind called Neuya-gundli, but, as I did not see it, I cannot say whether itis a variety of the common Gundli or a distinct species.In this distric t the smallest of the culmiferous crops isthe Kaun or Kangni which is the Panicum italicumof botanists, a grain much superior to most of thosementioned. The number of small birds th at are mostrapac ious after its grain is assigned as the reason of itsbeing neglected. It is chiefly reared by the hill tribes,the northern of which call it Petaga.

laJLourLEGUMINOUS PLANTS 417

PART 2ND.OF LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.

Th ese here are very important, and, as in Puraniya,the most common is the Mash-Kalai, which in the Hindidialect is mo st usually called Urid or Makh. It is aspecies of Phaseolus, which I cannot refer to the de s-cription given in any botanical author. There is avariety of it called Aghani K alai, which differs in noth-ing almost from the Mash-kalai, but that its seed, insteadof being green, is brown, and it ripens about a monthearlier. Con cerning this plant I have nothing to say inaddition to what has been mentioned in my account ofPuraniya, as it is used here exactly in the same manners.Th e pulse next in importance to the Urid is theA rahar or Cytisus Cajan, which grows with uncommonluxurian ce. All that I have said concerning it in myaccount of Puraniya is entirely applicable to this district.Th e Vaisakh i is that m ost commonly reared, and isallowed the best soils. In fact I know of no finer cropthat could be possibly encouraged than maize mixed withthis pulse, and a very large proportion of the waste landis fit for prod ucing such. Th e Vaisakhi kind by th enorthern tribe of mountaineers is named Gol-Lahari, theMaghi kind is named Mai Lahari.Great quantities of the Khesari or Lathy? us sativus,often already mentioned, are reared, especially am ongrice stub ble.Next in importance to the Khesari are the twovarieties of the Cicer arietinum. That with the redflower is calied But or Chana, and is by far the mostcommon. Th at with the white flower here also is calledKabalibu t. . . . Next to the But the most important pulse is theKulthi mentioned in my account of Puraniya.Next again to that is the common-pea (Pisum) . Akind called Kabali or Kusi Matar has white seeds likethe garden -pea af Euro pe (Pisitm sa/ivum), but I havenot seen the plant grow ing and cannot say whether itbelongs to this species or to thefieldpea (Pzsum arvense)to which the othe r varieties belong. Th e field-oea is of

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41 8 KINDS OF PULSEStwo kinds called, from the seasons at which they ripen,the Maghi and Vaisakh i Matar or Kerao, these twolatter words being synonymous, the former in theBengalese and the latter in the Hindi dialect.Masur, or the Ervwn lens, or lentil, is the pulse ofnext imp ortan ce, and has been already sufficiently men-tioned.Next in importance to the lentil is the pulse whichin this district is called Bora or Ghang ra, and has beenmentioned in my account of Puraniya . I had here anopportuni ty of examining it, and find that it is theDoliciws Caliang of modern botanists , that is thePhae.eolus minor of Ru mp hin s (vol. V, page 383 plate139). Am ong the mounta ineers it is much cultivated,and in the languag e of the norther n tribe is named Kusora.

The Chhota Ghangra or Muthiya Bora of thisdistrict I had an oppo rtunity of examining here, andfound that, far from bein g th e same with the Lub iya ofRonggopur , it seems to differ almost in nothing fromthe last, except in having its seed vastly smaller. Itmusthowever be observed that when reared among the stemsof maize, where it finds asupport , itclimbs just as muchas the othe r, and , except in the size of the seed, I canperceive little difference between the plants.Next to the Ghangras in importance is the pulsecalled Meth Kalai, which appears to be the same with the

Khyeri of Ronggopur, but the flower appeared to melarger, and I did no t see the plant in all its stages. I amnow convinced that I followed Linnaeus too far inadmitting the P/iaseohis minimus of Rum phius to belongto the Linnaean genus P/iaseolus, and that I was mistakenin considering it the same with the Khyeri of Ronggo-pur . I think it now probable that it belongs to theLinnaean genus Dolichos, and is the lesser Lachh rakaliof that district, while thePhaseolus minor ruber ofRumphius is the greate r Lachh rakali.Next in importance to the above are the pulsescalled Harimug, and Sehamug or Mahananda mentionedin my accounts of Puraniya . In this district I sawneither one or other in a state fit for examin ation. Thelatter is the most comm on. Am ong the Bengalese hereit is called Krishnamug.

PLANTS GIVING OIL 41 9Th e Tulb uli mentioned in my account of Puraniyais the pulse of next importance.Next to that is the Bhetmash mentioned in the sameaccount.The least important of the pulses is one calledSutrakalai, which I have not seen.

SECTION 3RDOf Plants (living oil.

Th e natives speak so confusedly concerning thecruciferous plants, which produce oil, that I cannot treatthe subject with very grea t confidence, but so far as Icould learn the follow ing are the kind s cultivated in thisdistrict.Th e Sarisha, Tu ri, Lo tni, Gota, and Maghuya orMaghi Rayi are in general considered as the samespecies, and it is the one most cultivated, but it must beobserved, that among the south ern. woods, where thename Lotni prevails for this species, another kind, theSinapi amboiincum of Ru mp hius was bro ught to me asthe Sarisha. Th e plant of which I am now treating asthe most comm only cultivated for oil in this distric t, isthe same with the Sor isha of Dinajpur, andwith theKajoli of Ronggopur.Next in quantity to this is the Rayi, or Reingchi, of -

most parts of the district, as well as of the otherssurveyed, which is the Sinapia?nboiuicum of Rumphius ;but, as I have said, amon g the southern woods thiswas called S arisha , while at Pain gti. a plant with com-pressed seed vessels mu ch like the former only muchlarger, was called Rayi, and th e Sinopi amboinicumwas called Gang-rayi. The seeds of b oth have pro-bably the same qualities, on which account they areinextricably confused by the farmers, although in abotanical view the two plants are abund antly diffe-rent. It is not in mypower to saywhich is meantin the tables of each d ivision . Onl y I know that theSinopi amboinicnm with the small quadrangular seedvessel was called Ga ngr ayi at Paingti, Reingchi atKodw ar, Sarisha at Bangka, and Rayi at Suryagarha ;while the kind with the larg e com pressed seed vesselswas called Rayi at Paing ti, In the tables, perhaps most

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Lathyrism Baghalpur IND Buchanan 1810-1811 Par Miles