GUJARAT
349
1852 to 1865 the head-quarters of the District. The land revenue and
cesses in 1903.-4 amounted to Rs. 1,33,000. On the south, the tahsil
includes portions of the Sutlej valley, rising abruptly into the desert
plateau of the Ganji Bar, which lies between the old bank of the Beds
on the south and that of the Ravi on the north. Below the latter lies
a strip of jungle, with patches of cultivation. Farther north come the
riverain tracts on both sides of the Ravi, which are scantily irrigated
by inundation canals, and, beyond the river, rise gently towards the
Sandal Bar. The Deg torrent flows in a deep bed close to the north-
ern border of the tahsil, and falls into the Ravi near Gugera.
Guindy.-Village in Chingleput District, Madras. See MADRAS CITY.
Gujarat.-This name, taken in its widest sense, signifies the whole
country in which Gujarat! is spoken, including Cutch and Kathiawar,
as well as the northern Districts and States of the Bombay Presidency
from Palanpur to Daman : that is, the country lying between 20° 9′ and
24° 43′ N. and 68° 25′ and 72° 22′ E. In a narrower and more correct
sense, the name applies to the central plain north of the Narbadd and
east of the Rann of Cutch and Kathiawar. Gujarat, in this sense, lies
between 23° 25′ and 24° 4′ N. and 71° 1′ and 74° 1′ E., and has an area
of 29,071 square miles and a population (1901) of 4,798,504. Of this
area less than one-fourth (7,168 square miles), chiefly in the centre and
south, is British territory, belonging to the four Districts of AHMADABAD,
KAIRA, PAIVCH MAHALS, and BROACH. About 4,902 square miles,
chiefly in two blocks-one lying west of the Sabarmati and the other
between the Mahi and the Narbadd-belong to BARODA. The re-
mainder belongs to the large and small States that have relations with
the Bombay Government, and is distributed among the Agencies of
PALANPUR in the north, MAHI KANTHA in the north-east, RrwA
K ANTHA in the east, and CAMBAY at the mouth of the Sabarmati.
The plain of Gujarat is bounded on the north by the desert of
Marwdr, and on the east by the hills of crystalline rock that run south-
east from Abu to join the western outliers of the Vindhyas near
Pavâgarh. From these hills, in the neighbourhood of which the
country is rough, rocky, and well wooded, it slopes in a south-westerly
direction towards the Rann of Cutch, the Nal Lake, and the sea, un-
broken by any rocky outcrop or rising ground. The central region is
of recent alluvial formation and has one of the richest soils in India,
though parts of it are liable to flooding in the rains, and it suffered
much in the famine of 1899-1902. Towards the Rann, the Nal Lake,
and the sea-coast, the plain passes into salt or sandy waste, where the
subsoil water is brackish and lies deep below the surface. The gracing
lands of Palanpur in the north are watered by the Bands and Saras-
wati, which flow from the Aravalli mountains into the Little Rann.
The Sdbarmati, rising near the source of the Bands, flows into the Gulf
|
![[Digital South Asia Library]](/graphics/thirdlevel.gif)
