358
B,4_zVDJ. TAL Uff
miles; population (190I), 214,316, compared with I98,384 in I89I;
demand on account of land revenue and cesses (I903-4), Rs. 6,45,000.
The name is derived from bandar = 'port,' the popular appellation
of MASULIPATAM (population, 39,507), the capital of the District and
head-quarters of the taluk. The taluk also contains I9I villages. It
extends from the Kistna embouchure (including the fertile island of
Divi) past Masulipatam along the coast to the north. Much of this
country is uncultivated, probably because of the injury done to the soil
by the inundation of the sea in I864, and consists of sandy wastes
interspersed with swamps. The climate is the most equable in the
District, the great heat of the summer months being tempered by
sea-breezes.
Bandarban.-Village in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Eastern Bengal
and Assam, situated in 22° 13' N. and 92° 14' E., on the banks of the
Sangu river. Population -(190), 2,370. It is the residence of
the Bomong chief.
Bandel (from bandar, 'a wharf').-Suburb of Hooghly town in
Hooghly District, Bengal, situated in 22° 55' N. and 88° 24' E., on the
right bank of the Hooghly river, about a mile north of the town and
within its municipal jurisdiction. It contains a Roman Catholic
convent, said to be the oldest Christian church in Bengal. Over the
gateway is a stone bearing the date I599, which, however, records the
foundation not of the present but of the original building, sacked and
destroyed by the Muhammadans about the year I629. It was rebuilt
in i660 by Gomez de Soto, and called the convent of Nossa Senhora
D'Rojario; the large hall of the east of the church was added about
1820. The title on which the property is held is a farman assigning
777 btghas of land to the community, granted by the emperor Shah
Jahan in I633 and subsequently confirmed in I646. The Circuit
House is a fine building, which was formerly the residence of the
Dacoity Commissioner. Bandel is famous for its cream cheeses.
Bandhogarh.-Old fort in Rewah State, and a place of consider-
able archaeological and historical importance. The fort stands on
a hill, 2,664 feet above sea-level, in 23° 41' N. and 81° 3' E., and
includes the neighbouring Bamnia hill, also enclosed by a rampart and
considered part of the fort. It is undoubtedly a place of antiquity,
and was an important stronghold long before the Baghel dynasty
acquired the country. Ptolemy mentions a Balantipyrgon as one of
the towns of the Adeisathroi, and Cunningham has suggested that
Adeisathroi is a Greek rendering of Haya Kshetra, the country of
the Haihayas. Tradition assigns the early rule of this country to
the Baland tribe, which would give some support to the identifica-
tion, the names Balandipur and Balantipura being practically identical.
In the thirteenth century it passed to the Baghelas as part of the
|
![[Digital South Asia Library]](/graphics/thirdlevel.gif)
