AGRA or AGRAH, on the river Jamnah, formerly a village, made by Sikandar Lodi the Capital of India. It continued as such till the reign of Shah Jahan. The fort, built during the reign of Akbar, contains a palace and several beautiful buildings. It is now the head-quarters of the civil division of the same name. In 1857 the population of the city was about 140,000.
ALLAHABAD, formerly called Prayaga, situated at the confluence of the Jamnah and the Ganges. The fort, resting on the Jamnah, was built by Akbar. Allahabad is now the seat of the Government of the North-West Provinces, and is the centre of the railway system of Northern India.
AMBALAH, capital of Sirhind, situated on an open plain, three miles east of the river Chaghar, fifty-five miles north of Karnal, sixty-nine miles southeast of Lodiana.
AMRITSAR, chief town of the division of the same name, is the sacred capital of the Sikhs. The district is bounded on the north-west by the river Ravi, on the north-east by the district of Gurdaspur, and on the south-west by the district of Lahor.
AZAMGARH, chief town of the district of the same name, in the Banaras division. It was founded by Azam Khan, an officer of Shah Jahan.
BALANDSHAHR (from the Persian baland, high, and shahr, town), chief town of the district of the same name in the Mirath division.
BANARAS, also called Kashi, on the Ganges, a holy city of the Hindus, famous for its ghauts, its temples, its minarets, and the observatory of Rajah Jai Singh of Jaipur. It is the head-quarters of the division of the same name.
BARRACKPUR, or the city of barracks, fifteen miles from Calcutta, on the left bank of the Hugli: selected more than a hundred years ago as the site for the troops to protect the capital.
BARHAMPUR, a station in the Murshidabad district, south of the city of that name, formerly the capital of Bengal. Barhampur is a civil station.
CHANAR, an ancient fortress in the Mirzapur district of the Banaras division; twenty-six miles from Banaras, and twenty from Mirzapur.
DAMDAMAH, incorrectly written Dumdum, formerly the head-quarters of Artillery, now a suburb of Calcutta, from which it is distant four and a-half miles.
DEHLI, written also Dihli and Dilli, a city on a branch of the Jamnah. The present city was built by Shah Jahan, and was called by the Mughul Court, in consequence, Shahjahanabad. The neighbourhood abounds in historical recollections. In 1857, it had a population of about 150,000.
DEHRA DUN, a district in the Mirath division, at the foot of the Himalayas, of which Dehra, the head-quarters of the 2nd Gurkha Regiment, is the capital.
DERAJAT, a division in the Panjab, comprising the Trans-Indus territory, and the Sindh Sagar Duab, north of Muzaffargarh district.
FAIZABAD, in Oudh, chief town of the district and division of the same name, on the Ghaghra: famous as the birthplace of Ram.
FARRUKHABAD, on the Ganges, chief town of a district in the Agra division. The English civil station is called Fathgarh.
FATHGARH, incorrectly spelt Futtehgurh, three miles from Farrukhabad (q. v.).
FATHPUR, sometimes but incorrectly spelt Futtehpore, chief town of the district of the same name in the Allahabad division: seventeen miles north-west of Allahabad, and fifty south-east of Kanhpur.
FIRUZPUR, south of the river Satlaj, a military and civil station in the Lahor division of the Panjab.
GOVINDGARH, a fort built at Amritsar (q. v.) by Ranjit Singh to overawe the Sikh pilgrims.
GURDASPUR, the capital of a district in the Amritsar division of the Panjab, bounded on the north by Kashmir, on the east by Kangrah, on the south by the Amritsar, and on the west by the Sialkot, district.
HAZARAH, on the left side of the Indus, north of Rawalpindi. This district forms the northernmost part of British India, running between the Indus and the Jhelam, and then passing in long but narrow strips, called Kaghan, along the north-western frontier of Kashmir. It is watered by the Nainsukh river, a tributary of the Jhelam.
HISAR, a division, now forming part of the Panjab, west of Dehli. In this division is the town of Hansi, famous in the history of the decline of the Mughuls.
HOTI MARDAN, a cantonment in the Peshawar division, the head-quarters of the famous Corps of Guides. It lies on the right bank of the Chalpani river, and is thirty-three miles north-east of Peshawar.
HUGLI (name derived from hogla, marsh reeds), is a town in the district of the same name, in the division Bardwan in Western Bengal. It was one of the earliest English settlements. Hugli is also the name of the branch of the Ganges on which Calcutta is built.
JALANDHAR, a division of the Panjab comprising the districts of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, and Kangrah.
JAUNPUR, a town on the Gumti, formerly capital of the ancient kingdom of Jaunpur, and now chief town of the district of the same name in the Banaras division. It is famous for a bridge over the Gumti, built by a general of the famous Akbar, in 1573.
JHELAM, a district of the Rawalpindi division. Its chief town, a military station in 1857, bears the same name. Jhelam is also the name of one of the five great rivers of the Panjab. It has a length of about 450 miles.
KANHPUR (sometimes illogically written Cawnpore), is derived from two words: “Kanh,” a name of Krishna, and “Pur,” a city. It lies on the right bank of the Ganges, 628 miles from Calcutta, and 130 from Allahabad.
KARNAL, the chief town of a district in the Dehli division, formerly a military station. It is on the high road between Dehli and Ambalah.
KASHMIR, as now constituted, is bounded on the north-west by the district of Hazarah; on the west by the districts of Hazarah, Rawalpindi, and Jhelam, the river Jhelam forming the boundary; to the south by the districts of Gujrat, Sialkot, Gurdaspur, and Kangrah; by the States of Chamba, Lahul, and Spiti; to the east by the Chinese empire; and to the north by the Karakoram range.
KOHAT, capital of district of same name, lies on the road from Peshawar to Kalabagh. It is thirty-seven miles south of Peshawar.
LAHOR, on the Ravi, is chief town of the division of the same name, and capital of the Panjab.
LAKHNAO: vide OUDH.
LODIANA, chief town of the district of the same name in the Ambalah division. Lodiana, was built by some generals of Sikandar Lodi, and was named after that prince. The town is eight miles south of the Satlaj.
MIAN-MIR, the cantonment of Lahor, three miles distant from the civil station. It derives its name from a famous saint.
MIRATH, the chief town of a district and division of the same name, sometimes incorrectly spelt Meerut, is on the river Kalinadi; it is twenty-five miles from the Jamnah, and twenty-nine from the Ganges.
NAOSHAHRA, a village and cantonment in the Peshawar district, twenty-six miles east of Peshawar, on the Kabul river.
OUDH, a province bounded on the north by Nipal, and on the three other sides by the north-western provinces of India. The principal stations in Oudh are Lakhnao, the capital; Barahbanki, Unao, Rai-Bareli, Sultanpur, Partabgarh, Faizabad, Gondah, Bahraich, Sitapur, Hardui, and Kheri. The total area is 23,992 square miles, and the population, in 1857, amounted to nearly eleven millions.
PANIPAT; a town in the Karnal district of the Dehli division, famous for the decisive battles fought there, and for the turbulent character of its people.
PANJAB, the – the land, as its name signifies, of five rivers – is bounded in the north by Kabul and Sawad (commonly Swat), Kashmir, Thibet; to the east by Thibet, the Jamnah, and the North-West Provinces; to the south by the same Provinces, by Bikanir and Jaisalmir in Rajputana, and by Sindh; to the west, by the Sulaimani range and Afghanistan. In 1857, the Dehli division was not included in the Panjab territory.
PESHAWAR, more correctly Pashawar, (it was formerly spelt Parshawar), is the chief town of the division of the same name. It lies near the left hank of the Bara stream, thirteen and a half miles south-east of the junction of the Sawad and Kabul rivers, and ten and a half from the fort of Jamrud at the entrance of the Khaibar Pass. It is 276 miles from Lahor and 190 from Kabul.
PHILUR, a town in the Jalandhar division, on the right bank of the Satlaj, eight miles north-north-west of Lodiana.
RAWALPINDI, the chief station of the division of the same name in the Panjab. The division comprises the district also called Rawalpindi, the fort of Atak, on the Indus, built by Akbar in 1583, and the districts Jhelam, Gujrat, and Shahpur.
RURKI, a cantonment for sappers and British troops in the Mirath division. The Thomason Engineering College is here. Rurki is twenty-two miles east of Saharanpur.
SIALKOT, chief town of a district in the Amritsar division of the Punjab. It is seventy-two miles north-east of Lahor.
SRIRAMPUR, on the Hugli, opposite Barrackpur. Noted for the labours of Carey, Marshman, and Ward, in missionary enterprise. Was formerly incorrectly called Serampore.
This collection transcribed by Chris Gage