BETUL, a hilly district of British India, in the Central Provinces, comprising the westernmost section of the great Sâtpurâ plateau, ßituated between 21° 20' and 22° 35' N. lat., and 77° 20' and 78° 35' E. long. It is bounded on the N. by the Hoshangâbâd district and the Makrâi territory, on the E. by the district of Chhindwârâ, on the S. by the commissionership of West Berars, and on the W. by the district of Hoshangâbâd. The area is about 4118 square miles; the population, as ascertained by the census of 1866, 258,335. In 1872 the population had increased to 284,055, of whom 168,788 were Hindus, 4555 Mahometans, 937 Buddhists and Jains, 19 Christians, and 109,756 aborigines; population, 69 per square mile. The mean elevation of the district above the sea is about 2000 feet. The country is essentially a highland tract, divided naturally into three distinct portions, differing in their superficial aspects, the character of their soil, and their geological formation. The northern part of the district forms an irregular plain of the sandstone formation. It is a well-wooded tract, in many places stretching out in charming glades like an English park, but it has a very sparse population and little cultivated land. In the extreme north a line of hill rises abruptly out of the great plain of the Narbadâ valley. The central tract alone possesses a rich soil, well watered by the Machnâ and Sâmpna rivers, almost entirely cultivated and studded with villages. To the south lies a rolling plateau of basaltic formation (with the sacred town of Multâi, and the springs of the River Tapti at its highest point), extending over the whole of the southern face of the district, and finally merging into the wild and broken liae of the Ghâts, which lead down to the plains. ...This tract consists of a succession of stony ridges of trap rock, enclosing valleys or basins of fertile soil, to which cultivation is for the most part confined, except where the shallow soil on the tops of the hills has been turned to account.
The principal rivers of the district arc the Tapti, Wardha, Bel Madina, Sampnâ, Morar, and Tawâ. The Tapti rises a few miles from Multâi, traverses the southern part of the district, and then plunges into the gorge of the Sâtpurâ hills, formed on the one side by the Chikaldâ hills of Berar, and on the other side by the wild Kalibhit hills of Hoshangâbâd. The Wardha can hardly be called a river of the district, as it merely takes its rise in the Sâtpurâ hills on the south-eastern boundary. The River Bel also rises in the high plateau of Betul, and forms one of the chief affluents of the Kanhân. The Machnâ and Sampnä rise among the hills that shut in the rich basin of the district They unite their waters at the town of Betùl, force their way through the Sâtpurâ range, and join the Tawâ near Shâhpur. The Moran rises in the Satpurâ hills within the district, and enters Hoshangâbâd near the town of Seoni. The Tawâ rises in Chhindwârâ, and flowing for a short distance through the northcast corner of this district, eventually joins the Narbadâ above Hoshangâbâd. These are the rivers of importance; but throughout the district, and more especially amid the trap formation, there are a number of smaller streams useful for irrigation. The principal agricultural products of the district are wheat and pulses, more than three-fourths of the open lands being devoted to these crops. The other products are cotton, rice, millet, rye, sugar-cane, and opium. The area under sugar-cane cultivation is estimated at 2400 acres, the juice extracted from it being exported in its raw state. The principal agricultural tribe is the Kunbis, many of whom are modern immigrants from Northern India. The aboriginal Gonds are found in all the wild jungle villages, where they follow the nomadic system of cultivation known as the ddhya. Extensive forests occupy some 700 square miles of the district area, and yield teak and other good timber. Coal occurs in many parts of the district, but is not worked, as except at one place not a single seam has been found exceeding 3 feet in thickness, and it is doubtful if a seam of that thickness can be profitably mined in India. District revenues in 1868-69—land revenue, £19,159; excise, £7219; assessed taxes, £1136; forests, £1218; stamps, £2743; total, £31,475. Strength of regular constabulary and town police, 333 men; cost, £3857 per annum.
Little is known of the early history of the district except that it must have been the centre of the first of the four ancient Gond kingdoms of Kherlâ, Deogarh, Mandla, and Chândâ. According to Farishtâ, these kingdoms engrossed in 1398 all the hills of Gondwânâ and adjacent countries, and were of great wealth and power. About the year 1418 Sultân Husain Shâh of Mâlwa invaded Kherlâ, and reduced it to a dependency. Nine years later the Râjâ rebelled, but although with the help of the Bâhmini kings of the Deccan he managed for a time to assert his independence, he was finally subdued and deprived of his territories. In 1467 Kherlâ was seized by the Bâhmini king, but was afterwards restored to Mâlwa. A century later the kingdom of Mâlwa became incorporated into the dominions of the emperor of Delhi. In 1703 a Musâlman convert of the Gond tribe held the country, and in 1743 Raghuji Bhonslâ, the Marhattâ ruler of Berar, annexed it to his dominions. The Marhattâs in the year 1818 ceded this district to the East India Company as payment for a contingent, and by the treaty of 1826 it was formally incorporated with the British possessions. Detachments of British troops were stationed at Multâi, Betul, and Shâhpur to cut off the retreat of Apâ Sâhib, the Marhattâ general, and a military force was quartered at Betul until June 1862. The ruined city of Kherlâ formed the seat of government under the Gonds and preceding rulers, and hence the district was, until the time of its annexation to the British dominions, known as the “Kherlâ Sarkâr.” The town of Multâi contains an artificial tank, from the centre of which the Tapti is said to take its rise; hence the reputed sanctity of the spot, and the accumulation of temples in its honour.
The climate of Betul is fairly salubrious. Its height above the plains and the neighbourhood of extensive forests moderate the heat, and render the temperature pleasant throughout the greater part of the year. During the cold season the thermometer at night falls below the freezing point; little or no hot wind is felt before the end of April, and even then it ceases after sunset. The nights in the hot season are comparatively cool and pleasant. During the monsoon the climate is very damp, and at times even cold and raw, thick clouds and mist enveloping the sky for many days together. The average annual rainfall is 40 inches. In the denser jungles malaria prevails for months after the cessation of the rains, but the Gonds do not appear to suffer much from its effects. Travellers and strangers who venture into these jungles run the risk of fever of a severe type at almost all seasons of the year.
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