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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 6, p. 347.

BANDA DISTRICT 347 Ptolemy; it is also referred to in Buddhist records of the third cen- tury B.C. Banavasi was the capital of the Kadamba kings until the early part of the thirteenth century. In 1220 and in 1278 the Banavasi 'twelve thousand' was held by the Deogiri Yadavas; from the four- teenth century until i560 it was under the Vijayanagar kings, and then passed to the Sonda chief. Bancoora.-District, subdivision, and town in Bengal. See B.N- KURA. Banda District.-District in the Allahabad Division of the United Provinces, lying south-west of the Jumna, between 24° 53' and 25° 55' N. and 79° 59' and 81° 34' E., with an area of 3,o60 square miles. On the north and north-east the Jumna divides it from Fatehpur and Allahabad; Allahabad and the State of Rewah lie on its eastern border; the States of Panna, Sohawal, Kothi, Patharkachhar, Chaube jdgirs, Charkhari, and Ajaigarh form the southern boundary; and the States of Charkhari and Gaurihar and Hamirpur District lie on the west. Banda consists of a varied country, sloping downwards from the Vindhyan range on the south and west to the valley of the Jumna on the north and north-east. The south-eastern or highest portion Pysical is composed of the sandstone hills which form the northward escarpment of the great table-land of Central India. These hills are well wooded and are arranged in a series of terraces with bold and abrupt scarps facing the north, their highest elevations being 1,300 feet above the sea. Their sides are scored by the beds of mountain torrents, which during the rainy months form affluents of the Jumna, but in the dry season gradually diminish, until by the month of May their channels are mostly empty. The Ken, Baghain, and Paisuni, however, the most important among them, are never quite dry. North of this hilly region lies a tract of undulating plains, at first thickly studded with rocky isolated hills, sometimes crowned by ruined fortresses, which rapidly decrease in number and size. The plain itself, the most fertile portion of the District, is widest at its western extremity, and narrows like a wedge as it runs eastward. The Jumna valley rises by a series of terraces, broken by ravines, to the level of the table-land above. In the greater part of the District the older rocks are concealed by the alluvium of the Gangetic plain. The northern or Bindhachal range of the Vindhyan plateau consists of Kaimur sandstone, while the southern or Panna range is composed of the overlying upper Rewah sandstone, and the space between is made up of the Panna and Jhiri shales. Below the sandstone lies the Archaean gneiss, which is visible only in a few places. The hills in the south-east are covered with 'reserved' forest, while the rest of the District is fairly well wooded. The flora of Banda has