THE PEOPLE

POPULATION

Introduction.

AN INTERESTING REVELATION OF THE CHARACTER of the people and their culture in the district could be found in the historic references to the people of Khande's. Research scholars from the days of Ptolemy have discussed the currents and undercurrents which have been instrumental in moulding the fabric of the Khande's culture. The influx of people from the northern regions of Gujarat and the Muslim invasions of the region have added considerable significance to the culture of the people in this district.

The following account given in the Khande's Gazetteer [Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency, Khandesh District, Vol. XII. 1880, pp. 38-42.] of 1850, throws an interesting sidelight on the people and their culture in the district.

Few early notices of the people of Khandes have been traced. According to Lassen the Sanskrt-speaking tribes passed down the Gujarat coast and up the Tapi valley through Khande's into the Deccan. [Indische Alterthumskunde, 1, 181.] Another wave of settlers would seem to have entered by the east, as, according to local tradition, Rajputs of different tribes ruled from Asirgad as far back as the sixteenth century before Christ.

The first known historic reference to the people of Khandes [The Mahabharat (H. H. Wilson's Works, VII, 164) places, next to . he people of Vidarbha or Bedar, Khandas or Shandas who may possibly have given their name to Khandesh. Khandesh has also been thought to be the Khandav forest of the Mahabharat. which was burnt down and brought under tillage by Arjun. These identifications are doubtful.] seems to be Ptolemy's (A.D. 150) mention of the Phyllitae and Kondali or Gondali, probably the Bhils and Gonds, whom he places south of the Narmada not far from its source. [Bertius' Ptolemy, Map X. and 204, Wilson (VII 139) is of opinion that the Bhils are included under the Pulindae whom Ptolemy places further to the west. Another of Ptolemy's tribes the Tabassi have been referred to Khandesh and supposed to be the Buddhist ascetics of the Ajanta and other Satamala cave temples. Yule in hid. Ant. IV, 282.] The Bhils, still the most characteristic and one of the largest classes in Khande's, seem to show by the varieties of their dialect, Nemadi, Marathi, and Gujarati, that they have been pushed back into Khandes by later arrivals, from the east, the south, and the west. Many of the changes that have narrowed the limits of the Bhil country have taken place since Ptolemy wrote. But in his time, as at present, Khandes was probably one of the leading Bhil settlements. Of the Gonds, traces remain in a Gond tribe of herdsmen found in Calisganv and in a Gond sub-division of Mhars.

Since Ptolemy's time, the first great change in the population of Khande's seems to have been the arrival, apparently up the Tapi valley from Gujarat, of a detachment of the great tribe or nation of Ahirs. or Abhirs. [Some of the Ahirs. apparently later arrivals, came from northern India.] The origin of the Ahirs. who besides in Khande's. are found in the North-West Provinces, Bengal, Central India and the Central Provinces, in Cute and Kathiavad in Gujarat, and in Nasik. Ahmadnagar and other parts of the north Deccan, is doubtful. They have been thought to be the Abars, one of the Scythian tribes who. in the second and first centuries before Christ, entered India from the north-west, [Cunnigham's Archaeological Report, II. 23, 33.] or, and this is move likely, they are supposed to be an old Indian or half Indian race who were driven south and east before the Scythian invaders. [Compare V. de St. Martin, Geog. Grec. et Latine de l'Inde, 230; Cent. prov. Gaz. LXIII.] In either case the bulk of the nation seems to have passed south during the time of Indo-Seythian ascendancy (B.C. 200-A.D. 200) in north India. Before the Christian era. they were near the north-west frontier; [V. de St. Martin. Geo. Grec. et Lat, de l'Inde, 230.] in the second century after Christ they were in Upper Sind; [Bertius' Ptolemy (A.D. 150). Map. X.] and in the third century in Lower Sind and north Gujarat. [McCrindle's Periplus (A.D. 247), 113. The expression is 'Inland from Surastrene '.] Next they appear south of the Tapi, between the Tapi and the Konkan', or 'between the Tap! and Devgad [Purans quoted in Ward's Hindus; III. 450. and Wilford's Ax. Res. XIII, 336.] They are spoken of as settled in Khandes. [Lanylois" Harivansh, II. 401.] And an inscription in one of the Nasik Buddhist caves shows that early in the fifth century (419) the country was under an Ahir king. [ Second International Congress, 354.] The Ahir dynasty is said to have lasted for only sixty-seven years. But as local tradition centres in an early Ahir or Gavali rule, it seems probable that, as was the case in Kathiavad, the Khandes Ahirs were closely connected with the Yadavas who were in power in the eighth, and again appear as the rulers of Devagiri or Daulatabad in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Their present strength has not been ascertained. The 1872 census returns do not show any Ahirs. But a special inquiry, carried on by Mr. j. Pollen, C. S., has brought to light, besides Ahir or part Ahir husbandmen and Ahir Kolis, an Ahir branch in almost all crafts and other middle class castes, and proved them to be so large an element in the population, that Ahirani is the local name for the khande's dialect of Marathi. [Besides Ahirs proper and Abhir Brahmans, there are Ahir Sutars. Ahir lohars, Ahir Shimpis, Ahir Salis. Ahir Guravs. and Ahir Kolis.] In some of these classes, as among the carpenters, blacksmiths, and goldsmiths, the Ahir element has remained distinct. Ahir carpenters and Ahir blacksmiths marry together. but neither of them marry with the other sub-divisions of carpenters and blacksmiths. In other eases the Ahir element has merged into the general class, and Ahir has come to be little more that a surname.

The next recorded addition to the population of Khande's is the arrival. partly direct up the Tapi valley, and partly it would seem through Malva and the Central Provinces, of the great body of Gujarat kunbis who now hold the bulk of the cultivated land to the north of the Tapi. According to the chronicles of the Reve Kunbis. they arrived about the eleventh century in a large body, in whose vanguard alone were 2000 carts. It seems not unlikely that this account is correct, and that the Kunbis were forced to leave Gujarat by the encroachments of Rajput tribes; driven south before the early Musalman invaders of north India. About this time, and till the arrival of the Musalmans (1310). it seems probable that while the Devagiri Yadavas held Khande's, the southern castes, of whose arrival no tradition remains but who are still known to have come from the south, first settled in the district. [Rane or Maratha Rajputs.] During the latter part of the fourteenth century, by the establishment (1370) of line of Arab kings, a new foreign element was introduced into Khandes. About the same time the district was visited by so severe a famine that, according to Ferista, its whole people, except a few Bhils and kolis. disappeared. [Two great khandesh famines are reported, one about 1370. the other the great Durga-Devi famine from 1396 to 1407. As he makes no mention of the Durga-Devi famine, it seems probable that Ferishta's 1370 famine should be placed some thirty years later.] Under the Faruqi kings, Khande's rose to much wealth and prosperity, and its population received many additions both of neighbouring Hindus and of foreign Musalmans.

When on January 6, 1601 it passed to the Emperor Akbar, parts of Khandes were highly tilled and well peopled, and its Bhils, Gonds, and Kunbis were specially noticed as hard workers and dutiful subjects. [Gladwin's Ain-i-Akbari. II. 54.] Under the Moghals. during the seventeenth century, prosperity continued. The disturbances in the Deccan, that ended with the fall of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur, must have driven numbers into the more peaceful district of Khande's, and during the reign of Aurangzeb Musalmans were flocking from north India into Khandes.

Under the Marathas (1760-1817) the Hindus again rose to importance. But any additions from the south must have been more than met by the losses in the disturbances that marked the close of the eighteenth century. The terrible famine of 1803 laid the district waste, leaving for the time but a few Bhils and Kolis. When the famine was over some of the old inhabitants returned. But so disturbed were all, except some favoured parts of the district, that numbers still staid away. [The present special prosperity and populousness of Savda is believed to be owing to the protection afforded at this time (1803-1818) by [he power of the Nimbalkar and Raste. Bomb. Gov. Sel. XCIII, 203.] In those troubled times three bodies of foreign mercenaries rose to importance; Arabs, north India or Pardesi Brahmans, and Mysore or Karnatak troops, apparently partly Hindu, partly Musalman. With the establishment of British power (1817-1820) these three classes of mercenaries disappeared. Part of the Arabs were sent to Arabia, and the rest found their way to Hyderabad in the Deccan; almost all the Karnatak troops returned to their own land; and most of the Pardesi Brahmans settled as husbandmen. [Compare Capt. Briggs (182) in MS. Sel. 157 (1821-1829).] On the establishment of order, the old inhabitants returned in numbers from Berar and Gujarat, and crowds of strangers flocked from the Nizam's and Sinde's dominions. [Mr. Chaplin's Report, 20th August 1822; East India Papers, IV, 515.] Still the country was very empty. The 1821 Census showed a population of only 4,18,021 souls or 31¼ to the square mile. In 1837 it was still 'miserably populated ', large tracts being held by Bhils. The population was estimated at 4,78,457 souls, about 60,000 more than in 1821, and it was calculated that, of the whole number, Brahmans represented 5.40 per cent, Rajputs 3.47, Sudras and Marathas 69-58, low and depressed tribes 14.72 and Musalmans 6.38. [Col. Sykes in Rept. of Brit. Assoc. (1837), 258, 264.] Fifteen years later (1852) a fresh Census showed a total strength of 6,86,003 souls, or an increase, since 1837, of nearly forty per cent. [Bom. Gov. Sel. I. 4.] Still great part of the district was empty, and five-sixths of its arable land lay waste. An attempt was made to supply the want of people by bringing settlers from crowded Ratnagiri. But the most liberal offers of rent-free land and money to buy bullocks and tools, failed to tempt a single settler. [Bom. Gov. Sel. I. 13; Mr. A. T. Davidson, Superintendent of Survey (1861), Bom Gov. Sel. XCIII, 432.] Still population was steadily increasing, and with the rise of produce prices (1856), the introduction of a lighter and more even assessment (1860-1866), and the opening of the railway (1863), large numbers came to Khandes. Compared with those of 1852, partly no doubt because they were more complete, the Census returns for 1872 showed a total of 1,028.042 souls, or an increase in twenty years of nearly fifty per cent. Since 1872, though Khandes has passed through several trying years, the population is known to have considerably increased. The east and centre are populous, but the south is thinly peopled, and in the west great arable tracts are still empty. In spite of recent increase, Khande's remains one of the thinnest peopled parts of the Bombay Presidency.

Of the immigrants under British rule, exclusive of those who came back on the first establishment of order (1817-1820), the chief classes are, among traders, Marvadi Vanis, Bhatias, and Bohoras; among craftsmen, Rangaris and Telis; and among husbandmen and labourers, Marathas and Kunbis.

At present the most interesting section of the population are the Vanjaris, the owners of pack-bullocks, who since cart roads have been opened to the coast (1834), and still more since they have had to compete with the railway, have been forced to give up their old wandering ways and settle in fixed villages. [Another older division of Vanjaris is established as a regular part of the Kunbis.] Their leaders, men of capital who always did some trafficking on their own account, have started as traders, and the bulk of the people, who have probably always been in the habit of raising crops during their long halts in the rainy season, have taken to tillage. Some still earn their living as carriers. But none have taken to the practice of crafts, probably because, as they travelled with bullocks and with no carts, they had no need of the services of carpenters or blacksmiths.

This Vanjari and Ahir element in the Khandes people has the high value of showing, what can hardly be traced in most parts of the country, the chief process by which the bulk of the present Hindu population was probably formed. A succession of tribes of northern herdsmen have been driven south, and by changes in the government or trade of the country, have been forced to settle. Among their leaders would be men of capital if not trained traders; the mass of the people would have a rough knowledge of tillage; and as many tribes travelled with carts and sheep, some among them would be familiar with carpentry, smithwork, and weaving. When they settled the leaders would become traders and landholders, the bulk of the people would start as husbandmen, and of the rest, some would take to the practice of crafts and others would continue as herdsmen or carriers. Among the husbandmen, some of the poorer or lower sort, forced to take up lands in the outskirts of the settlement, cut off to some extent from their own people and straitened from want of labour, would associate with the earlier tribes, and taking their women as wives or slaves, would raise a mixed class. As the new tribe settled many of their special beliefs and practices would cease, peculiarities of dress would be given up, and if they had not them before, they would engage Brahmans, to conduct their ceremonies. In time sameness of work would become a closer bond than a common origin. Husbandmen would begin to marry with the older settled husbandmen and other craftsmen with men of their own calling [This is the probable explanation of the large number of sub-divisions among the craftsmen classes in Khandesh. Many of them, the Telis, Salis and Koshtis, Lohars, Rangaris, Nhavis and Mhars have the stock number twelve and a half, the half being apparently a mixed or inferior class.]. Each division would come to be known by name of its calling, and the tribal title would sink to the name of a sub-division or to a surname. Of the old tribe the only apparent traces would be those who had kept to the original calling of herdsmen or carriers: the offspring of the low class women proud of their strain of higher blood; and perhaps the Brahmans, who known among their caste fellows by their patrons' name, had come to form a distinct subdivision.

Growth of Population.

Growth of population is determined by three factors, viz., births, deaths and migration. The following paragraphs give the trends in population growth and movement of population over the last few decades. The pattern of growth of the general population has also been analysed.

The following table gives the variation in population and percentage of decade variation in the district from 1901 to 1961:―

TABLE No. 1

VARIATION IN POPULATION DURING SIXTY YEARS,
DHULIA DISTRICT

TABLE No. 1-contd.

The decade 1901 [" West Khandesh shows the largest increase of any district in the Province. With a fertile soil it used to be a populous country but was devastated by Holkar's Army in 1802 and became over-grown with jungle. With the advent of British rule and the keeping in check of marauding Bhils, it had steadily risen and the opening of the Tapti Valley Railway in 1900, combined with the reaction after famine (during which over a quarter of a million were on relief works), has resulted in a large expansion of cultivation. Immigration has risen 70 per cent since 1901 ", Census of India, 1911, Vol. VII, Part I, Bombay.]-11 witnessed a rise of 27.77 per cent in the population of Dhulia district. The extensive epidemic of influenza during the subsequent decade resulted in the reduction of the rate of variation to 6.20 per cent. The rate of variation however kept up a faster pace after 1921. The rising rate witnessed a slight decrease in 1941, while the 1961 census recorded the highest growth rate of 27.44.

There are wide variations in the rates of growth in different talukas of Dhulia district.

The rates of variation of population in the various talukas during the decade 1951-61 are given below:―

The highest rate of growth (55.29) has been recorded in Akrani mahal. This rate is more than double that of the district average. The central talukas of Taloda, Sahada, Sirpur and Sindkhed which have the most fertile lands and the highest density of population in the district have recorded lower rates of growth than the district average. The hilly and forest areas however have recorded very high rates of growth.

The population of the district witnessed a net increase of 201.32 per cent between 1901 and 1961, and 127.41 per cent between 1921 and 1961. Thus, during the last 60 years the population has trebled.

TABLE No. 2

AREA AND POPULATION, DHULIA DISTRICT, IN 1961

According to the 1961 census, the density of population for Dhulia district is 279 as compared to the corresponding figure for the entire-State which stands at 334. The following statement gives the exclusively for all the talukas in the district in 1951 and 1961.