RÁJSHÁHÍ or Rajeshaye, a district of India, in the lieutenant-governorship of Bengal, forming the southwestern corner of the Rfijshfihf with Kuch Behar division. It lies between 24° 3' and 24° 59' N. lat. and between 88° 21' and 89° 24' E. long., and is bounded on the N. by the districts of Din&jpur and Bogra, on the E. by Bogra and Pabna, on the S. by the Ganges and Nuddea district, and on the W. by Maldah and Murshidabiid. The area of 2359 square miles is one alluvial plain seamed with old river-beds and studded with marshes. The Ganges and the Mah&nandfi are its principal rivers; the former constitutes a great natural boundary-line to the south and south-west, and the latter, which rises in the Himalayas, borders the district on the w r est for a few miles before joining the Ganges. Other rivers are the Narad and Baral, important offshoots of the Ganges; the Atrai, a channel of the Tista; and the Jamuna, a tributary of the Atrai. Both the Atrai and the Jamuna belong to the Brahmaputra system and are navigable throughout the year for small cargo boats. The drainage of Rdjshahi is not carried off by means of its rivers, but through the chains of marshes and swamps, the most important of which is the Chalan “ bil ” or lake, which discharges itself into the Brahmaputra. The climate of Raj shdhf does not differ from that of other districts of Lower Bengal; its average rainfall for the five years ending 1882/83 equalled 68 inches. The Northern Bengal State Railway intersects the district from north to south....
Population .—The census of 1881 gave a population, almost entirely rural, of 1,338,638 (males 660,226, females 678,412). Of this number 288,749 were returned as Hindus, 1,049,700 as Mohammedans, and only 121 as Christians. The only town with over 10,000 inhabitants was Rampur Beauleah (19,228), which is the chief town and administrative headquarters of the district. This town is situated on the north bank of the Ganges in 24° 22' N. lat. and 88° 39' E. long.; it is of modern growth and is built for the most part on river alluvia. It was formerly the seat of the Dutch and East India Company’s factories, and is still a centre of the silk and indigo trade.
Rice is the staple crop of the district; other cereal crops are wheat, barley, and Indian corn, which are grown to a small extent; among miscellaneous crops are indigo, sugar-cane, mulberry, and tobacco. Ganja is also grown in a small tract to the north of the district. Silk spinning and weaving and the preparation of indigo are the chief manufactures, but these are now both declining. The total revenue of Rajshahi in 1883-84 amounted to £123,098, towards which the land-tax contributed £88,584.
History .—When the East India Company took over the administration of Bengal in 1765 Rajshahi was one of the largest and most important districts in the province. It appears to have extended from Bhagulpur on the west to Dacca on the east, and to have included an important subdivision called Nij-Chakla Rajshahi on the south of the Ganges, which extended over a great portion of what now lies within the districts of Murshidabad, Nuddea, Jessore, Birbhum, and Burdwan. The total area was estimated at 12,909 square miles, or more than five times the size of the present district. Having been found much too large to be effectually administered by one central authority, Rajshahi was stripped by Government in 1793 of a considerable portion of its outlying territory, and a natural boundary-line was drawn to the west, south, and east along the Ganges and Brahmaputra. Its north-western limits were reduced in 1813, when the present district of Maldah was constituted. The erection of Bogra into a separate jurisdiction in 1821 still further reduced its area; and in 1832 the limits of Rajshahi were finally fixed very much at their present lines by the constitution of Pabna into an independent jurisdiction.
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