TOPOGRAPHY OF TUE DIVISIONS; POPULATION

TOPOGRAPHY Ob1 THE DIVISIONS: POPULATION

273

ports; such as that many have died of the operation; and that many, on which it lias been performed, have afterwards been affected with the small pox. Fevers are in general less common than even in Um most healthy parts of Bhagalpur, and nowhere are near so prevalent as in the bad parts of that district. Every where at a little distance from the Ganges, except in the woods of Nawada, the country, for a warm climate, is highly salubrious, and the bad parts of it are not worse than Bhagalpur, which is reckoned one of ihe most healthy situations in Bengal. It is said that until within these two or three years, the country was still more healthy than it now is, a circumstance which seems to me highly probable, as it is now overstocked with inhabitants, and in all probability the mortality will increase, until it becomes as great as in (lie vicinity of Moorshedabad, which was a healthy country until overwhelmed with people. The autumnal epidemic is always most severe, unless it be in the wilds of iNawada and Sheykhpurah, and may be so there also, although I omitted to inquire concerning this circumstance. The febrile disease (nakra), attributed to an affection of the nose, is very troublesome, the same person continuing for years to have attacks from six to, twelve times a year. Fluxes are not so common as in the north-east of Bengal, nor are choleras frequent. The sannipat, or temporary swelling in the throat with fever, occurs at all seasons, but is not common. In some places it is called nuzlali. Bpth kinds of leprosy are nearly on the same- footing as in Bhagalpur. The great leprosy (kor) is here divided into two kinds; the raktubikar, which affects the extremities, and is supposed to originate in a diseased slate of the blood; and the sunbaheri, in which the skin chiefly is affected Siinbahvri is a Persian word, and a Brahman physician says that the Sangskrita name of this kind is Bad Rakfa, but he just reverses Ihe application of the two names, and although Hcikta is Sangskrita, Bad I believe is a Persian word. There is, however, reason to think that there aro two

varieties of the disease, that differ much both in symptoms and virulence; the one attacking (ho small joints and the oilier the skin, I which it renders large portions totally insensible. The prejudice against the unfortunate persons seized with ttiis dreadful malady is so great- that some of the lower castes, when seized with it, cause themselves to be destroyed. They are placed in a boat, and, a pot of sand being tied to their necks, they are carried tj the middle of the Ganges, and there thrown over board. The people thus drowned are perfectly willing, both because they are miserable and helpless, and because they think that the sin to which the disease is attributed will be removed by their dying in the sacred stream; and they cannot afford to have the forms of expiation (Pruijascllla) performed, as is usually done for the Brahmans or wealthy persons that may be afflicted with this desease. The books of law (Diannasd^t/'a), I am told, condemn this kind of expiation by drowning, or rather say, that the expiation by ceremony (Prat/ascJtlttu) is the only one effectual; but a passage of the M(ili(tbh(iraL is interpreted so as lo recommend the drowning, ami, where perfectly voluntary, it- perhaps saves the unfortunate wretch from much wprldly suffering. 1 saw no person that was entirely white, but I heard of eight or ten that are in that- state. The chronic swelling of the legs, throat, &c. are not, in proportion to the number of people, more numerous than in Bhagalpur. That of the throat is in general attributed to the persons having long resided on the northern side of the Ganges. 1 heard, however, of several instances of persons who liad the disease, and who in the whole course of their lives had never left Magadha. There is. nevertheless, a great disparity in the proportions of those affected on the two banks of the Ganges-, and 1 think that this can with difficulty be accounted for on any oilier principle, than some condition of the waters flowing from the northern niounlaius being the chief occasion of the disease, for in every pari- where this water flows the disease is common, although the climate of the northern 35

a: sj s.* i

274

TOPOGRAPHY OF THE DIVISIONS : POPULATION

AN

ACCOUNT

OF THE DISTRICTS OF

BIHAR AND PATNA

IN

I8II-I8I2

BY

FRANCIS BUCHANAN
PRINTED FROM T H E BUCHANAN M S S . IN T H E INDIA OFFICE LIBRARY. WITH T H E P E R M I S S I O N O F T H E SECRETARY O F STATE FOR INDIA IN C O U N C I L .

PATNA:
rUBLISHED BY THE BIHAR AND ORISSA AND RESEARCH SOCIETY

parts of Bengal differs considerably from that of Tirahufc. Rheumatism is not so prevalent as in Bhagalpur, owing apparently to the houses being much warmer. There is a species of lameness called kungja in the Sangskrita language, and mag-haiya angra in the vulgar dialect^ as it is supposed to be peculiarly prevalent in Magadha and in fact it is very common in Patna and it immediate vicinity; but observed it nowhere else although I am told that it prevails in every part of both districts. It atacks all ages and both sexea and after continuing a year or two is considered incurable; but some have recovered after having been affected for several months. It seems to consist in a weakness and irregular motion of the muscles moving the knees., which are bent and moved with a tremulous irregular motion, somewhat as in the chorea, but not so violent. When the disease has lasted some time, and has become confirmed, the legs suffer emaciation. It is not accompanied by fever, but in [he commencement is often, though not always, attended with pain. It is attributed by some to eating khesari (lafhyrussativus), but. this seems fanciful, for although in Magadha this pulse no doubt enters largely into the diet of the poor, it does no less so in that of those in Matsya (Dinajpur), where the disease is as: rare as in any other part of the world. By others it is attributed to sleeping on kodo straw, an opinion which deserves more attention, for the grain of some fields of kodo possesses narcotic qualities, probably, owing to some weed intermixed with (ho real rain, and the stems of this weed may emit narcotic exhalations very capable of affecting the health.

PRINTED BY THE CALCUTTA ORIENTAL PRESS 9 . PANCHANAN GHOSE LANE, CALCUTTA.