230
GHAZIPUR DISTRICT
There are 8 hospitals and dispensaries, with accommodation for
72 in-patients. In 1903 the number of cases treated was 59,000,
including 1,400 in-patients, and 3,500 operations were performed.
The total expenditure was Rs. i i,ooo, from Local funds.
About 24,000 persons were successfully vaccinated in 1903-4, repre-
senting a proportion of 26 per i,ooo of population. Vaccination is
compulsory only in the municipality of Ghazipur.
[W. Oldham, Memoir on Ghazeepoor District (1870 and 1876) ;
District Gazetteer (1884, under revision) ; W. Irvine, Report on Revision
of Records (Ghazipur, 1886).]
Ghazipur Tahsil.-Head-quarters tahsil of Ghazipur District,
United Provinces, comprising the parganas of Ghazipur, Pachotar, and
Shadiabad, and lying north of the Ganges, between 25° 23′ and 25° 53′
N. and 83° 16′ and 83° 43′ E., with an area of 391 square miles. Popu-
lation fell from 319,385 in 1891 to 266,871 In IgoI, the rate of decrease
being nearly 20 per cent. There are 824 villages and only one town,
GHAZIPUR (population, 39,429), the District and tahsil head-quarters.
The demand for land revenue in 1903-4 was Rs. 2,66,ooo, and for
cesses Rs. 49,ooo. The density of population, 683 persons per square
mile, is slightly above the District average. Besides the Ganges, the
Gang!, Besu, and Mangai drain the tahsil, flowing across it from
north-west to south-east. In the northern portions rice is largely grown,
and there are considerable tracts of barren usar land from which
carbonate of soda (sojji) is collected. The area under cultivation in
1903-4 was 236 square miles, of which 143 were irrigated. Wells
supply nine-tenths of the irrigated area, and tanks the remainder.
Ghazipur Town.--Head-quarters of the District and tahsil of the
same name, United Provinces, situated in 25° 35′ N. and 83° 36′ E.,
on the left bank of the Ganges, and on a branch of the Bengal and
North-Western Railway, and also connected by a steam ferry with the
terminus of a branch of the East Indian Railway on the opposite
side of the river. Population (1901), 39,429. The town was founded,
according to Hindu tradition, by Raja Gadh, an eponymous hero, from
whom it took the name of Gadhipur ; but it more probably derives its
name from the Saiyid chief, Masud, whose title was Malik-us-Sada,t
Ghazl. Masud defeated the local Raja and founded Ghazipur about
1330. For its history and Mutiny narrative see GHnZFPUR DISTRICT.
The town stretches along the bank of the Ganges for nearly 2
miles, with a breadth from north to south of about three-quarters of
a mile. The massive walls of the old .palace, called the Chahal Situn
or 'forty pillars,' the numerous masonry ghats, and a mud fort form
striking features in the appearance of the river front. Masud's tomb
and that of his son are plain buildings ; and the only other antiquities
are the tank and tomb of Pahar Khan, governor in I 58o, and the garden,
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