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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 21, p. 212.

2I2 the decade ending igor ; in 1903-4 the income was Rs. 23,000. The town contains a dispensary, an English school with 47 pupils, and 6 vernacular schools, 5 for boys with 517 pupils and one for girls with 95. Randhia.-Petty State in KATHIAWAR, Bombay. Rangamati Town.-Ancient town in the Berhampore subdivision of Murshidabad District, Bengal, situated in 24° 1' N. and 88° 11' E., on the right bank of the Bhagirathi, 6 miles south of Berhampore. Population (x901), 400. The clay here rises into bluffs 40 feet high, which form the only elevated ground in the neighbourhood, and are very conspicuous from the river. Few remains have been found except pottery and the traces of buildings, tanks, and wells ; but Rangamati is rich in traditional history. The legend respecting the origin of the' name, which means ° red earth,' is that Bibhishana, brother of Ravana, being invited to a feast by a poor Brahman at Rangamati, rained gold on the ground as a token of gratitude. By others the miracle is referred to Bhu Deb, who through the power of his austerities rained gold. Rangamati has been identified by Mr. Beveridge with the city of Karna Suvarna, the capital of the old kingdom of the same name visited by the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang about A.D. 639. It may also have been the site of the chief of the monasteries mentioned by Hiuen Tsiang as Lo-toawei-chi-seng-kia-lan, a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit Ractaviti sangharama. After the Muhammadan conquest in 1203, Rangamati (according to Mr. Long) formed one of the ten faujdaris into which Bengal was then divided. Its Hindu zamindar was a considerable person, and on the occasion of the great punya at Motijhil in 1767 he received a khilat worth Rs. 7,278, or as much as the zamindar of Nadia. The site of Rangamati was at one time selected in preference to Berhampore as a healthy spot for the erection of barracks. The East India Company formerly had a silk factory here. All that is now left of this ancient town is a bungalow and a silk filature belonging to the Bengal Silk Company. [H. Beveridge, `The Site of Karna Suvarna,' Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. lxii, pt. i, No. 4 ; Capt. Wilford, Asiatic Researches, Vol. ix, p. 39; and Capt. Layard, Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. xxii.] Rangamati Village.-Head-quarters of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Eastern Bengal and Assam, situated in 22° 39' N. and 92° 12' E., on the banks of the Karnaphuli river. Population (1901), 1,627. Ranga mati contains a high school and hospital. It is the residence of the Chakma chief. The London Baptist Mission has a branch here. Rangamatia Village.-Small village in the east of Goalpara District, Eastern Bengal and Assam, situated in 26° 19' N. and 9o' 36' E. It was for many years the frontier outpost of the Muham- madans, the country farther east being occupied by the Ahoms.