148 JHANSI TAHSIL
Pahuj forms part of the, western boundary;. and the Bet-, after
flowing along the south-easq crosses Native territory and then 1-me,
the northern pgrdon of the Writ, giving MY the Betwa Canal. In the
north lies a good tract of hdbar or black soil and parwa or loam; this
area is thickly populated and closely cultivated, while field embank-
nts to hold' up water are c About the centre of the tahtil
the country change, to a broken tract of hilly uplands, and the soil
stony and pan,, bar is. m ,red near the village sites and irrigated
from wells worked by the Persian wheel. Farther math 4tngus is
more and the people depend largely on the. pasturing of
cattle. coInml9oz-3 the under cultivation was t7?,squa miles,
of which 28 w rrigated,echiefly from wells. '
Jhansi City.-Administrative head- quarters of the District and
Mlurl of the sa with cantonment, in the United Provinces,
situated in 25° 27′ N. and 78° 35′ E., on the road from Cawnpore
to Saugoq and on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway; 799 miles
by rail from Calcutta and 7- from Bombay. Under Native rule the
population of Jhansi was about 30,,.o in 1871 and 33,111 in -881
After its cession x886, population. roe to 53,779. in 1891 and
55.7x4 in r9oon Hindus numbered 41,-9 in 19-r mad Measherstr$
,,,983, while there were about a, oo Christians. The population in
Municipal limits was 47,881 and in cantonments 7,843.
Jhansi city, which is sometimes known as Balwantnagaq owes its
foundation to Bar Singh Deo, Raja of Omhha, who built a fort here
n x613. A town sprang up and remained in the possession of the
Bundelas till 171z, when it w sized by the Maratbas, who had
already acquired property in the neighbourhood under the will of
Chhatersal. They added to the fort, and the town continued to be
the seat of a go.,-,. The rapid growth of Jhansi during this period
as partly due to the forcible removal of people from other places.
It was subsequently held for a few months by Shuja-ud deals, N&wxb
of Oudh, and was wrested from him by Anap Girt Gosain of Moth,
from wtwm it passed to the Raja of Omhha, and in 1766 was again
brought under Maratha mil. The British acquired sovereign rights
from the Peslrwa in 1817; and in 853 the State of Jhansi lapsed
n default of heirs, when the city became the head-quarters of a
Superintendent subordinate to the Commissioner. of the Saugor and
Nerbudda Territories. The Mutiny history has been given id that
of Jrrw s1 D15TaICT. In 96, the city, with a large t,aei adjoining it,
ceded to Sindhia; and the head-quarters of the District, called
Jhansi Nao.Abad (`newly-founded'),: included only a small village, with
the civil .s.no. and cantonment. Jhansi then became the bead-
quarters of u Sfebah of the Gwalior State, but in 1886 It was restored
to the British in exchange for the.G,alior fort and Movar cantonment.
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