THE CENTRAL "INDIA STATE CENSUS SERIES Volume V ORCHHA STATE CENSUS REPORT FOR 1911 'TEXT AND TABLES COMPILED BY Majop C. E. LUARD, M.A. (Oxon), I. A., SUPERINTENDENT OF CENSUS OPERATIONS IN CENTRAL INDJX. ''l6ombal! ': PRINTED AT THE BRITISH INDI.A PRESS, MAZAGAON. 1.913 PREFACE. The Census, with which this R'2port deals, is the fourth regular enumeration of the population of the Orchha Sbte, the first being in 1881. The dates on whic h the four Censuses were taken :.;re noted below:- 17th February 188!. 1st March 1901. 26th February Ib91. 10fh March 1911. All the [mo' have been ~yn(hronous with the Censuses taken in British India. In the first two CemUSl!S a simple form of the Schedule consisting of 8 columns was adopted requiring information on (1) ~umber, (2) Name, (3) Religion, (4) Sex, (5) Age, (6) Caste, Tribe, or H;:we, (7) Birth-place and (8) Occupation. In 1901 as well as on the present occasion tl-;P British India Schedule was exactly applied and the results were incorporated in Cr ntl'al j ndia Imperial Tables. As on previous occasions the first ptep taken, after it was notified that a Census was to be taken, was the prepnration of a list of all villages in the State in the prescribed form for the formation of Ccn;;us Division8. This was done early in March 1910, after which the DarLa1' a:rpointed, as its Census Officer, Lala Ujagar Chand, who had previous experience of this work. Lala Ujagar Chand with two Supervisors attended the training class opened at Indore for the instruction of C('nsus Officers. After returning to Tikamgarh a similar class was opened for insjfucting Charge Superintendents, selected Super­ visors and Enumerators. The CJ:Hge Superintendents and Supervisors in their turn opened Schools of instruction at all convenient centres within their charge. A Manual of Instructions was suppli()d to Charge Surerintendents and Supervisors, while each Enumerator had a SpeCimen Enumeration Book correctly filled in for ready reference. The next step taken up was the formation 0] the Census Divisions, v;'z., Charges, Circles and Blocks. The Pargana constituted a Charge being sub-divided into Circles, the latter into Blocks. In all there were 7 Charges, 287 Circles and 2,154 Blocks. Each stage of the operations was guided by the Census Calendar issued from the Central India Census Office shewing the dates on which the different operations were to be begun and completed. I visited Tikamgarh in November 1910 and impeded the progress of the work. The house-numbering had been very well carried out and the Census Agency was well instructed. The Schepules filled up for practice shewed few errors. The arrangement made for communicating Provisional Totals from centre to centre was by means of a Sowar Dale, which enahled the Census Officer to compile the State Summary and wire his figures to the Census Commissioner for India, Calcutta, the Political Agents in Bundelklwnd and myself on the 14th March 1910. According to these figures the population numberd 339,544 persom, which diffEred from th8 Final arrived at after abstlraction and tabulation by 602 or 18 per 10,000 persons. The total cost of Census Operations in the Orchha State has not been finally adjusted yet, bnt Rs. 5,560-9-1 may be taken for all practical purposes, whicp works up to 3 pies ptf head of population. This is the first time the Orchha State has ha'd a separate Census Report. The Darbar also suggested at first, tpat the abstraction and tabulation should be done at Tikamgarh. This idea waE, powever, ultimately abandoned. I am very much obliged to His Highness the Maharaja and ihe Diwan for the cordial way in which help was given to me and for the good arrangements made for the taking of the Census. To the Census Officer Lala Ujagar Chand (since dead) my thanks are due for aU the care bestowed on the work. C. E. LUARD, MAJOR, SUperintendent of Census Operations in Central India. CONTENTS. PAGe An account of the Census 1 TABLES :- Table I.-Area. Houses and Population ... 10 II.-Vari::;.tion in Population, since 1881... ib. " ." I1I.-Towns and Villages classified by Population 12 IV.-Towns classified by Population with Variation, since 1881... ib. " V.-Towns arranged TerritoriallY with Population by Religion... 14 " VI.-Parganas arranged Territorially with Population by Religion iv. " ." VII.-Age, Sex, Civil Condition 16 ,f VIII.-Education by Religion and Age ... 18 X.-Language ... " 19 XI.- Birth-place iv. " I, XIII.-Caste, Tribe or Race 20 XV.-Occupation or Means of Livelihood 21' " A List of VHlages for the State ... 23 ApPENDICES :- Appendix I.-Census Division and Agency. ." II.-Numoer of Forms supplied and used . III.-Expenditure. 'HatU; riO I :-1, . (, j"-ajpur I: 35 GQJ'f'ra • 3~ ~ 25 G.v~~182 5 ' 25. 30 :3ti 20 ST • Harp .. lpur 5 . 25 Fort .'''' . "09- .Britishl'o"tOff'ice ".. " ".p.o. StatePostOffic~ ,," "u TeleliraphOfflc. " ,T.O. Dak Bun,i(aJow "b Jnsp!'Ctiolt8ulI~al(lw .C State GlJt>sf ROllse a, CrunpingGrot\lllL. ",,", SlIrai .J Thana ".f rabBil ." f Thana & Tahsil .. " 'f Cut Post .r Saul. Fi.lds " .Y. Arch",ol.gical Plo.ce.. "fr Fair! ,. /1 Shikar!'reserves ". m Fore!!ltRe"erve! . .. Ferl'st He.5('rve Cantonment. .Cllntnnntl'nt ORCR&A Scale 1Inch = 8 Miles. 35 24 30 30 Rf'ferences. \ Bllideogarh Railway&: Station , Orchha Road ~[etallcd _ 25 25 TiklUllgarh fu)adZ~Class - __ Jatara Fairweather Road --­ Tahrauli J JHANSI 7 CENSUS REPORT OF THE ORCHHA STATE. 1. General.-Orchha State is the most important and premier Treaty State in the Bundelkhand Political Charge of the Central Indian Agency. It is known both as Orchha and Tikamgarh, the latter name being that of the chief town. The State lies between 24° 26' and 25° 40' north latitude and 78 3 26' and 79° 26' east longitude with an area of about 2,079 square miles and a Population of 330,032. It is bounded on the North and West by the Jhansi District of the United Provinces, on the South by the Saugor District of the Central Provinces and the States of Bijawar and Panna and on the East by the States of Charkhari and Bijawar and the Garrauli Jagir. The Climate of Orchha is said not to be particularly healthy especially thai of the North-Western section where the inhabitants suffer severely from malaria throughout the year. The area occupied by the State is sub~ ject to greater extremes of heat and cold than are experienced in Western Central India and the padded jacket or mirzai is a necessary garment in winter. Those who cannot afford a mirzai sleep on straw heaps. The stra w of kodon (Paspalum Stoloniferum) has a great power of warming the body, The greatest cold is experienced from January to the middle of February. In May the hot winds locally called Zapat (literally" a blow") are very trying. The copious consumption of green mango Sharbat is considered prophylactic against its evil effects. The average annual rainfall is 45 inches as recorded at the chief town .. II. Administrative and Natural Divisions.-For administrative pur­ poses the State is divided into 6 Parganas, viz., Orchha, Baldeogarh, Tikamgarh, Jatara, Tahroli, Khasgat and the isolated village of Paharsinghpura situated in the Aurangabad district of the Hyderabad State. The State lies in the low-lying natural division of Central India within the gneissic area and consists of a plain covered with low serrated ridges of pinkish grey grantoidal gneiss traversed by veins of quartz. The land for the most part is rocky and the soil of low fertility. Lakes are numerous. Between the ridges of gneiss lie patches of fertile black soil formed by the detritus from the hills and by disintegration of the intrusive dykes of basalt which strike through the gneiss. 2 ORCHHA STATE. III. Density.-The mean density of the population for the State State. IDensilty. gives 159 persons to the square lY. :le against -------- 155 in 1901, 160 in 1891 and 150 in 1881. In lJ Samthar 177 2 Datia .. 1"",0 this point it stands fourth among the States of , 3 Baoni ... 166 Bundelkhand as shewn in the inset. The soil 4 Orchha 159 of the State is nowhere of high fertility, the 5 Charkhari 151 uL! Chh a t arpur ... 149 greater part of the country being covered with 7 Bijawar 129 red and yellow soils, uninviting to cUltivators. 8 Ajaigarh 18°9 The principal crops grown are Kodon, Rali, 9 Panna ... 8 _______;. ___ I Kutki, Saman and J owar which satisfy the general wants of the people. The State is most conservative. There are no good roads or Post Offices to develop trade and open up the country for general traffic. No industries exist in the State. When a start is made with works of public utility the country should undergo marked improvement and shew much higher density. The inset gives the density for the 7 units into which the State Density. has been divided. The Tikamgarh Pargana, as is Parganas. 1911./1901. natural, shews the highest density of 188 per­ sons to the square mile, Khasgat shews least. Orchha .. 1128 134 Compared with the density of 1901, Tikamgarh Baldeogarh... 179 159 Tikamgarh ... 188 188 and Jatara shew no variation; Baldeogarh and Jatara ... 156 158 Khasgat shew improvement, while Tahroli and Tahroli '" 177 193 Khasgat ... 96 59 Orchha shew a fall. The unit of Paharsingh­ Paharsingh- pura consisting of only one village enclave pura ... 73 84 in the Hyderabad State is left out of the comparison.