Behar

Behar, or BAHAR (also spelt Bihar), once one of the three subahs or provinces under the Nawab of Bengal, now one of the four great provinces of Bengal, occupying part of the valley of the Ganges, comprising the two divisions of Patna and Bhagalpur, and subdivided into 12 administrative districts. Area, 44,186 sq. m.; pop. (1891) 24,393,504. The Ganges divides the province almost into two equal parts; it is watered besides by several of its important tributaries. Among the minerals, the most important are coal, lead, silver, copper, and mica, but these are scarcely worked. European vegetables have been introduced, and succeed well. Of indigenous productions, the chief are rice, wheat, barley, maize, pulse, sugar, cotton, indigo, and tobacco. Oil-seeds, opium, indigo, sugar, cotton, and saltpetre are exported. The cultivation of opium is a government monopoly, with its headquarters at Patna. Over 300,000 acres are under poppy cultivation for this purpose. Upwards of a million sterling is invested in the indigo industry in the different districts. The district is also engaged in the manufacturing of muslins, silks, carpets, blankets, tents, tapes, threads, ropes, paper, glass, cutlery, jewelry, leather, ink, soap, and pottery. The East Indian Railway runs through the entire length of the province, and is now the great commercial highway. Before the days even of Moslem domination, Behar appears to have been the centre of a Hindu empire, which native accounts describe as of matchless splendour, and of fabulous duration. Kooch Behar is a native state near Bhotan, under the lieutenant-governor of Bengal; area, 1307 sq. m.; pop. 602,604. Its capital is also Kooch Behar, or Kuch Behar.