The population, which in 1853 numbered 1,816,390, had risen to 2,019,361 in 1872, a great increase in so short a period; of these, 1,819,445 or 90Ί per cent, are Hindus, 199,372 Mussulmans, and 533 Christians. The district contains a total cultivated area of 2621 square miles, with 897 square miles available for cultivation, most of which is now under forest. The chief products are cotton, rice, bhjrα, joàr, moth, and other food-stuffs. The commerce of Gorakhpur is confined to the above products. The means of communication are still imperfect. Two good metalled roads run. through the district, one from Gorakhpur to Benares tnα Bar-halganj, the other to Basti and Fyzabad. The total revenue in 1876 was £227,738. The police force in 1875 numbered 755 officers and mem In 1875 there were 435 schools, with 13,525 pupils. The district is not subject to very intense heat, from which it is secured by its vicinity to the hills and the moisture of its soil. Dust-storms are rare, and cool breezes from the south, rushing down the gorges of the Himalayas, succeed each short interval of warm weather. The climate is, however, relaxing. The southern and eastern portions are as healthy as most parts of the province, but the tarai and forest-tracts are still subject to malaria. The average rainfall from 1860 to 1871 was 45 - 8 inches; the maximum was 60 inches in 1861, and the minimum 25 inches in 1868. The mean monthly temperature in the shade was 77° in 1870, and 76° in 1871. The death rate in 1875 was 40 - 092, or 19 - 85 per thousand of the population.

Gautama Buddha, the founder of the religion bearing his name, died within the district of Gorakhpur. It thus became the headquarters of the new creed, and was one of the first tracts to receive it. The country from the beginning of the 6th century was the scene of a continuous struggle between the Bhars and their Aryan antagonists, the Rahtors. About 900 the Domhatars or military Brahmans appeared, and expelled the Rahtors from the town of Gorakhpur, but they also were soon driven back by other invaders. During the 15th and 16th centuries, after the district had been desolated by incessant war, the descendants of the various conquerors held parts of the territory, and each seems to have lived quite isolated, as no bridges or roads attest any 7 intercourse with each other. Towards the end of the 16th century, Mussulmans occupied Gorakhpur town, but they interfered very little with the district, and allowed it to be controlled by the native rajas. In the middle of the 18th century a formidable foe, the Banjâras from the west, kept the district in a state of terror, and so weakened the power of the rajas that they could not resist the fiscal exactions of the Oudh officials, who plundered and ravaged the country to a great extent. The district formed part of the territory ceded by Oudh to the British under the treaty of 1801. During the mutiny it was lost for a short time, but under the friendly Gurkhas the rebels were driven out, and the whole district once more passed under British rule.

Gorakhpur, a municipal city, and the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur district, North-Western Provinces, in 26° 44' 8" N. lat., and 83° 23' 44" E. long., on the river R<4pti, near the centre of the district. It was founded about 1400, on the site of a more ancient city. It is the headquarters of a civil and sessions judge, with the usual administrative offices, and has a considerable trade in grain and timber sent down the RApti to the Gogra and the Ganges. The municipal revenue in 1875-76 was <£4771. Population (1872), 51,117.