162 RAJSIIAIII DISTRICT
PUNDRA or Paundravardhana, the country of the Pods, whose capital
was at MAHASTHAN. Under the Sen kings this was known as the
Barendra Bhumi, a name which still survives in the
History. Barind tract already referred to. Rajshahi presents
an example of the process by which a native zaminddri has been
moulded into a British District. Early in the eighteenth century it
was granted by the Muhammadans to Ramjiban, the founder of the
Nator family. In 1728 the zandnddri of Rajshahi extended from
Bhagalpur on the west to Dacca on the east, and included a large
subdivision called Nij Chakla Rajshahi, on the south bank of the
Padma, which stretched across Murshidabad and Nadia as far as the
frontiers of Blrbhfim and Burdwan. Rajshahi thus comprised an area
of 13,000 square miles, and paid a revenue of 27 lakhs. Unfortunately,
however, for the Nator family, the estate fell under the management
of a woman, the celebrated Ran! B1lawani, whose charitable grants of
rent-free land permanently impoverished her ancestral possessions.
After some years of direct management by Government officers, the
Rani's adopted son was permitted in 1790 to engage for the whole
District at a permanent assessment of 23 lakhs; but the strict regula-
tions which were then introduced for the recovery of revenue arrears
by sale of the defaulter's estate were constantly called into requisition
against the Raja, and parcel after parcel of his hereditary property
was sold.
Meanwhile another chain of circumstances was tending to dissolve
the integrity of the original District. At first an attempt was made to
administer justice through a single Collector-Judge and Magistrate with
two assistants, one stationed at Muradbagh, near Murshidabad, and
the other at the local capital of Nator. In 1793, however, a general
redistribution of Bengal into Districts was made, and the extensive
tract lying south of the Padma was taken from the parent District and
divided among the adjoining jurisdictions of Murshidabad, Nadia, and
Jessore. The prevalence of crime in the remoter parts of the District
rendered further reductions necessary ; and in 1813 the present Dis-
trict of Malda was constituted out of a neglected tract in the west,
towards which Rajshahi, Dinajpur, and Purnea all contributed their
share; Bogra was formed in a similar manner in 1821, and Pabna in
1832 ; and thus Rajshahi District assumed its present proportions.
The population of the present area increased from 1,423,592 in 1872
to 1,450,776 in 1881, but fell to 1,439,634 in 1891. It rose again to
1,462,407 in 1901, but the growth since 1872 is little
Population. more than 2 per cent. Rajshahi is one of the most
feverish Districts in Bengal, the unhealthiest portion being the central
and eastern tract of waterlogged country which has already been
described. This area is notoriously malarious, and the mortality from
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