27ST14 403
under cultivation was 197 square miles, of which ioi were irrigated,
canals and wells serving an equal area; tanks and small streams supply
7 or 8 square miles.
Tirwa Town.-Head-quarters of the lahsil of the same name
in Farrukhabad District, United Provinces, situated in 26° 58' N.
and 7g° 48' E., 25 miles south-east of .Fatehgarh. Population (igoi),
5,763. The town is in two portions, three-quarters of a mile apart,
Tirwa proper being the agricultural, and Ganj Tirwa the business
and official, quarter. The former contains a fine castle, the residence
of the Raja of Tirwa, who has a large estate in the neighbourhood.
Attached to the fort are a handsome tank and temple constructed
by a former Raja. Ganj Tirwa is administered under Act XX of 1856,
with an income of about Rs. goo. It has a flourishing local trade, and
contains the lahsili and a dispensary. Two schools are attended by
152 pupils.
Tista.-River of Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam. It rises
in the Chatamu Lake, Tibet, in 28° 2' N. and 88° 44' E., though it
is said to have another source below Kinchinjunga, in Sikkim, and,
after traversing North Bengal in a generally south-east direction, falls
into the Brahmaputra in Rangpur District, in 25° 24' N. and 8g° 42' E.
Its length within British territory is about 168 miles. The Sanskrit
names for the Tista are Trishnd and Trisrola, the former implying
`thirst,' and the latter 'three springs.' The Kalika Purana gives the
following account of its origin: The goddess Parvati, wife of Siva,
was fighting with a demon (Asur), whose crime was that he would
worship her husband and not herself. The monster, becoming thirsty
during the combat, prayed to his patron deity for drink; and in conse-
quence Siva caused the river Tista to flow from the breast of the god-
dess in three streams, and thus it has ever since continued to flow.
After draining Sikkim, the Tista forms the boundary between that
State and Darjeeling District for some distance, till it receives the
waters of the Great Rangit, when it turns to the south, and, threading
its way through the mountains of Darjeeling District, debouches on the
plains through a gorge known as the Sivok Gold Pass. In Darjeeling
the principal tributaries of the Tista are: on its left bank, the Rangpo
and the Rilli; and on its right, the Great Rangit, the Rangjo, the
Rayeng, and the Sivok. The Tista in this portion of its course is
a deep mountain torrent not fordable at any time of the year. In
the dry season its waters are sea-green, but after rain the admix-
ture of calcareous detritus gives them a milky hue. The scenery
along the river banks is here grand and beautiful. The lower slopes
of the mountains are clothed with dense forest overhanging its waters,
which now gurgle in their rocky bed and anon form deep still pools,
while in the background rise in tier above tier the great snowy masses
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