The earliest record of an attempt to arrange for the preparation of Statistical Accounts of the different districts of the Bombay Presidency is in 1843. In 1843 Government called on the Revenue Commissioner to obtain from all the Collectors as part of their next Annual Report the fullest available information regarding their districts.1 The information was specially to include their own and their Assistants’ observations on the state of the cross and other roads not under the superintendence of a separate department, on the passes and ferries throughout the country, on the streets in the principal towns, and on the extension and improvement of internal communications. As from Collectors alone could any knowledge of the state of the district be obtained, the Collectors were desired to include in their Annual Reports observations on every point from which a knowledge of the actual condition of the country could be gathered with the exception of matters purely judicial which were to be supplied by the Judicial Branch of the Administration. Government remarked that, as Collectors and their Assistants during a large portion of the year moved about the district in constant and intimate communication with all classes they possessed advantages which no other public officers enjoyed of acquiring a full knowledge of the condition of the country, the causes of progress or retrogradation, the good measures which require to be fostered and extended, the evil measures which call for abandonment, the defects in existing institutions which require to be remedied, and the nature of the remedies to be applied. Collectors also, it was observed, have an opportunity of judging of the effect of British rule on the condition and character of the people, on their caste prejudices, and on their superstitious observances. They can trace any alteration for the better or worse in dwellings, clothing and diet, and can observe the use of improved implements of husbandry or other crafts, the habits of locomotion, the state of education particularly among the higher classes whose decaying means and energy under our most levelling system compared with that of preceding governments will attract their attention. Finally they can learn how far existing village institutions are effectual to their end, and may be made available for self-government and in the management of local taxation for local purposes.

In obedience to these orders reports were received from the Collectors of AhmedÁbÁd Broach Kaira ThÁna and KhÁndesh. Some of the reports, especially that of Mr. J. D. Inverarity, contained much interesting information. These five northern reports were practically the only result of the Circular Letter of 1843.

The question of preparing District Statistical Manuals was not again raised till 1870. In October 1867 the Secretary of State desired the Bombay Government to take steps for the compilation of a Gazetteer of the Presidency on the model of the Gazetteer prepared during that year for the Central Provinces. The Bombay Government requested the two Revenue Commissioners and the Director of Public Instruction to submit a scheme for carrying into effect the orders of the Secretary of State. In reply the officers consulted remarked that the work to be done for the Bombay Presidency would be of a multifarious character; that the article on the commerce of Bombay would require special qualifications in the writer; that again special qualifications would be required for writing accounts of the sacred cities of NÁsik and PÁlitÁna, of the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, of the histories of Sindh GujarÁt and Ahmednagar, and of the Portuguese connection with Western India. The Committee observed that a third form of special knowledge would be required to write accounts of PÁrsis KhojÁs and other castes and tribes; that in short the undertaking would be one of much wider scope and greater difficulty than the preparation of the Gazetteer of the Central Provinces. Much thought would be required before the general plan could be laid down, and after the plan was fixed all sorts of questions as to arrangement and treatment of particular parts would be sure to arise. In the Committee’s opinion local revenue officers could not as a rule find time to devote to work of this description without neglecting their ordinary duties; but they could correct and amplify such information as a special officer could compile from the published and unpublished records of Government.

In January 1868 the Bombay Government decided that the general supervision and direction of the work should be placed in the hands of a Committee consisting of the Revenue Commissioners, the Director of Public Instruction, and the Commissioner of Customs, and that an Editor should be appointed with a small copying establishment to act under the directions of the Committee. The Editor was to give his entire time to the work and was expected to finish it in about a year. He was to collect and arrange in alphabetical order all recorded information regarding the towns and other places of interest in each Collectorate, and to send printed on half margin each draft when completed to the local officers for verification, additions, and alterations. When the drafts were returned and corrected by the Editor, they were to be laid before the Committee. To enable the Editor to meet such expenses as a fair remuneration for articles contributed by qualified persons, and also to pay for the printing of the work with small accompanying maps, an amount not exceeding Rs. 12,000 was sanctioned for the total expense of the Gazetteer including the payment of the Editor. At the outset it was decided to place a portion of the sum sanctioned not exceeding Rs. 2000, at the disposal of the Commissioner in Sindh to secure the preparation of articles referring to Sindh. The Committee were requested to meet at Poona in June 1868 and to report to Government on the best mode of preparing and editing the Gazetteer and supervising its publication. The Collectors and Political Officers were in the meanwhile requested to ascertain what records in their possession were likely to be useful for the preparation of a Gazetteer and what papers in the possession of others and likely to be useful for the purpose were obtainable within their charge. Collectors and Political Officers were requested to send their replies direct to the Director of Public Instruction who would collect them on behalf of the Committee.

In August 1868 the Bombay Gazetteer Committee, composed of Messrs. A. F. Bellasis Revenue Commissioner N. D. Chairman, Mr. W. H. Havelock Revenue Commissioner S. D. and Sir Alexander Grant, Director of Public Instruction, submitted a report recommending the following arrangements:

• (1) That Mr. W. H. Crowe, C.S., then Acting Professor in the Dakhan College, be appointed Editor of the Gazetteer with a monthly remuneration of Rs. 200 out of the Rs. 12,000 sanctioned for the expense of the Gazetteer and that he should at the same time be attached as an Assistant to the Collector of Poona;
• (2) That Mr. Crowe be allowed an establishment not exceeding Rs. 50 a month chargeable to the grant of Rs. 12,000, and such contingent charges as may be passed by the Committee;
• (3) That Professor Kero Luxman Chhatre be requested to assist Mr. Crowe on various questions both local and mathematical, and that on the completion of the work a suitable honorarium be granted to Professor Kero;
• (4) That agreeably to the suggestions of Major Prescott and Colonel Francis, Mr. Light should be directed to compile for the different districts all information in the possession of the Survey Department in communication with the Editor of the Gazetteer who was to work under the Committee’s orders;
• (5) That the above appointments be made at present for one year only, at the end of which from the Committee’s progress report, it would be possible to state with approximate definiteness the further time required for the completion of the Gazetteer.

These proposals were sanctioned on the 11th September 1868. Towards the close of 1868 Mr. (now Sir) J. B. Peile took the place of Sir A. Grant on the Committee and Colonel Francis was added to the list of the members. Adhering as far as possible to the arrangement followed in the Gazetteer of the Central Provinces, which had met with the approval of the Secretary of State, Mr. Crowe drew out the following list of subjects which was forwarded to all Collectors Sub-Collectors and Survey Superintendents:

• I.—General Description.
  • (a) Latitude and Longitude.
  • (b) Locality.
  • (c) Boundaries.
  • (d) Aspect.
  • (e) Water-supply.
  • (f) Rivers.
  • (g) Mountains.
  • (h) Area.
  • (i) Altitude.
• II.—Climate, Seasons.
  • (a) Rainfall.
  • (b) Health.
  • (c) Prevailing Diseases.
• III.—Geology.
  • (a) Soils.
  • (b) Minerals.
  • (c) Scientific Details.
• IV.—History.
• V.—Administration.
  • (a) Judicial.
  • (b) Revenue.
  • (c) Miscellaneous.
• VI.—Revenue.
  • (a) Imperial.
  • (b) Local.
• VII.—Population.
  • (a) Census.
  • (b) Description of Inhabitants.
  • (c) Castes.
• VIII.—Sub-Divisions.
  • (a) Names of TÁlukÁs.
  • (b) Names of Towns.
• IX.—Production.
  • (a) Agriculture.
  • (b) Forest.
  • (c) Animals.
  • (d) Minerals.
  • (e) Manufactures.
• X.—Trade and Commerce.
• XI.—Communications.
  • (a) Roads.
  • (b) Railways.
  • (c) Telegraphs.
  • (d) Post.
• XII.—Revenue System and Land Tenures.
• XVI.—Education.
  • (a) Schools.
  • (b) Instruction.
• XIV.—Language.
• XV.—Architectural Remains and Antiquities.
• XVI.—Principal Towns and Villages.

In 1869 the draft articles prepared by Mr. Crowe were submitted to Mr. (now Sir) W. W. Hunter of the Bengal Civil Service who expressed his satisfaction at the progress made. The Committee adopted certain suggestions made by Sir W. Hunter for the arrangement of the work and for obtaining fuller district figures from the Marine, Irrigation, Cotton, and Survey Offices. In March 1870 a further extension of one year was accorded. The Bombay Government directed that each Collector should choose one of his Assistants to correspond with the Editor and obtain for him all possible information from local records. All Heads of Offices were also desired to exert themselves zealously in aiding the prosecution of the work. In 1871 Mr. Crowe’s draft article on the DhÁrwÁr District was sent to Mr. Hunter for opinion who in addition to detailed criticism on various points made the following general remarks:

“My own conception of the work is that, in return for a couple of days’ reading, the Account should give a new Collector a comprehensive, and, at the same time, a distinct idea of the district which he has been sent to administer. Mere reading can never supersede practical experience in the district administration. But a succinct and well conceived district account is capable of antedating the acquisition of such personal experience by many months and of both facilitating and systematising a Collector’s personal enquiries. The Compiler does not seem to have caught the points on which a Collector would naturally consult the Account. In order that the Editor should understand these points it is necessary that he should have had practical acquaintance with district administration and that he should himself have experienced the difficulties which beset an officer on his taking charge of a district or sub-division. The individual points will differ according to the character of the country. For example in deltaic districts the important question is the control of rivers; in dry districts it is the subject of water-supply. But in all cases a District Account besides dealing with the local specialties should furnish an historical narration of its revenue and expenditure since it passed under the British rule, of the sums which we have taken from it in taxes, and of the amount which we have returned to it in the protection of property and person and the other charges of civil government.”

Sir William Hunter laid much stress on the necessity of stating the authority on the strength of which any statement is made and of the propriety of avoiding anything like libels on persons or classes. In 1871 Sir W. Hunter was appointed Director General of Statistics to the Government of India. In this capacity he was to be a central guiding authority whose duty it was to see that each of the Provincial Gazetteers contained the materials requisite for the comparative statistics of the Empire. As some of the Bombay District Accounts were incomplete and as it was thought advisable to embody in the District Accounts the results of the general Census of 1872, it was decided, in October 1871, that pending the completion of the census the Gazetteer work should be suspended and that when the results of the census were compiled and classified a special officer should be appointed for a period of six months to revise and complete the drafts. In October 1871, pending the compilation of the census returns, Mr. Crowe was appointed Assistant Collector at SholÁpur and the Gazetteer records were left in a room in the Poona Collector’s Office. In September 1872 the whole of the Gazetteer records, including thirty-one articles on British Districts and Native States, were stolen by two youths who had been serving in the Collector’s Office as peons. These youths finding the Gazetteer office room unoccupied stole the papers piece by piece for the sake of the trifling amount they fetched as waste paper. Search resulted in the recovery in an imperfect state of seven of the thirty-one drafts. The youths were convicted and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment in the Poona Reformatory.

In 1873 Mr. Francis Chapman then Chief Secretary to Government took the preparation of the Gazetteer under his personal control. And in June 1873 Mr. James M. Campbell, C.S., was appointed Compiler. An important change introduced by Mr. Chapman was to separate from the preparation of the series of District Manuals certain general subjects and to arrange for the preparation of accounts of those general subjects by specially qualified contributors. The subjects so set apart and allotted were:

These arrangements resulted in the preparation of the following papers each of which on receipt was printed in pamphlet form:

I. Ethnology; II. Meteorology; III. Geology; and IV. Botany.

Of these papers it has not been deemed advisable to reprint Dr. J. Wilson’s Paper on Castes as it was incomplete owing to Dr. Wilson’s death in 1875. Reprinting was also unnecessary in the case of Mr. Blandford’s Geology and of the late Mr. Chambers’ Meteorology, as the contents of these pamphlets have been embodied in works specially devoted to the subject of those contributions. Dr. Burgess never prepared his article on the ArchÆology of the Presidency, but the materials supplied by the late Pandit BhagvÁnlÁl Indraji prevented the evil effect which this failure would otherwise have caused. Dr. BhagvÁnlÁl also ably supplied the deficiency caused by Dr. G. BÜhler’s failure to contribute an article on the Early History of GujarÁt. The notices of the manufactures in the more important industrial centres to some extent supply the blank caused by the absence of Mr. Terry’s contribution. Nothing came of the late Mr. Gordon’s Account of the Trade of the Presidency.

On the important subject of Botany besides Dr. W. Gray’s original contribution, a valuable paper On Useful Trees and Plants was prepared by Dr. J. C. Lisboa, and a detailed account of Kaira field trees by the late Mr. G. H. D. Wilson of the Bombay Civil Service. These three papers together form a separate Botany Volume No. XXV.

The general contributions on History contained in Vol. I. Parts I. and II. are among the most valuable portions of the Gazetteer. Besides the shorter papers by Mr. L. R. Ashburner, C.S.I., on the GujarÁt Mutinies of 1857, by Mr. J. A. Baines, C.S.I., on the MarÁthÁs in GujarÁt, by Mr. W. W. Loch, I.C.S., on the MusalmÁn and MarÁtha histories of KhÁndesh and the Bombay Dakhan, and by the late Colonel E. W. West, I.S.C., on the modern history of the Southern MarÁtha districts, there are the Reverend A. K. Nairne’s History of the Konkan which is specially rich in the Portuguese period (a.d. 1500–1750), the late Colonel J. W. Watson’s MusalmÁns of GujarÁt with additions by KhÁn SÁheb Fazl Lutfullah FarÍdi of Surat, and the important original histories of the Early Dakhan by Professor RÁmkrishna GopÁl BhandÁrkar, C.I.E., Ph.D., and of the Southern MarÁtha districts by Mr. J. F. Fleet, I.C.S., C.I.E., Ph.D. With these the early history of GujarÁt from materials supplied by the late Pandit BhagvÁnlÁl Indraji, Ph.D., is perhaps not unworthy to rank. The work of completing Dr. BhagvÁnlÁl’s history was one of special difficulty. No satisfactory result would have been obtained had it not been for the valuable assistance received from Mr. A. M. T. Jackson, M.A., of the Indian Civil Service.

The importance and the interest of the great subject of Population have added several contributions to the Reverend Doctor J. Wilson’s original pamphlet of twenty-three pages. Most of these contributions appear in different District Statistical Accounts especially Dr. John Pollen’s, I.C.S., accounts in KhÁndesh, Mr. Cumine’s, I.C.S. in BijÁpur, Mr. K. RaghunÁthji’s in ThÁna and Poona, Assistant Surgeon ShÁntÁrÁm VinÁyak’s in SholÁpur, Mr. P. F. DeSouza’s in KÁnara, and the late RÁo BahÁdur Trimalrao’s in DhÁrwÁr. Except the valuable articles contributed in the Statistical Account of Kachh by Major J. W. Wray, Mr. VinÁyakrÁo NÁrÁyanand RÁo SÁheb DalpatrÁm PrÁnjivan Khakhar, in the Account of KÁthiÁwÁr by the late Colonel L. C. Barton, and in the Account of Rewa KÁntha by RÁo BahÁdur Nandshankar TuljÁshankar the early date at which the GujarÁt Statistical Accounts were published prevented the preparation of detailed articles on population. This omission has now been supplied in a separate volume No. IX. The chief contributions to this volume are RÁo BahÁdur BhimbhÁi KirpÁrÁm’s Hindus, KhÁn SÁheb Fazl Lutfullah FarÍdi’s MusalmÁns, and Messrs. Kharsetji N. Servai and Bamanji B. Patel’s PÁrsis.

Besides to these general contributors the series of Statistical Accounts owes much of their fullness and practical usefulness to District Officers especially to the labours of the District Compilers who in most cases were either Collectors or Assistant Collectors. The most important contributors of this class were for AhmedÁbÁd Mr. F. S. P. Lely, C.S.; for Kaira Mr. G. F. Sheppard, C.S.; for the Panch MahÁls Mr. H. A. Acworth, C.S.; for ThÁna Messrs. W. B. Mulock, C.S., E. J. Ebden, C.S., W. W. Loch, C.S., and A. Cumine, C.S.; for KolÁba Mr. E. H. Moscardi, C.S.; for RatnÁgiri Mr. G. W. Vidal, C.S.; for KhÁndesh Mr. W. Ramsay, C.S., Dr. John Pollen, C.S., and Mr. A. Crawley-Boevey, C.S.; for NÁsik Messrs. W. Ramsay, C.S., J. A. Baines, C.S., and H. R. Cooke, C.S.; for Ahmednagar Mr. T. S. Hamilton, C.S.; for Poona Messrs. J. G. Moore, C.S., John MacLeod Campbell, C.S., G. H. Johns, C.S., and A. Keyser, C.S.; for SÁtÁra Mr. J. W. P. Muir-Mackenzie, C.S.; for SholÁpur Mr. C. E. G. Crawford, C.S.; for Belgaum Mr. G. McCorkell, C.S.; for DhÁrwÁr Messrs. F. L. Charles, C.S., and J. F. Muir, C.S.; for BijÁpur Messrs. H. F. Silcock, C.S., A. Cumine, C.S., and M. H. Scott, C.S.; and for KÁnara Mr. J. Monteath, C.S., and Colonel W. Peyton. Of the accounts of Native States, the interesting and complete Gazetteer of Baroda is the work of Mr. F. A. H. Elliott, C.S. The chief contributors to the other Statistical Accounts of Native States were for Kachh Colonel L. C. Barton; for KÁthiÁwÁr Colonel J. W. Watson and Colonel L. C. Barton; for PÁlanpur Colonel J. W. Watson; for Mahi KÁntha Colonels E. W. West and P. H. LeGeyt; for Rewa KÁntha Colonel L. C. Barton and RÁo BÁhÁdur Nandshankar TuljÁshankar; for SÁvantvÁdi Colonel J. F. Lester; for JÁnjira Mr. G. Larcom; for KolhÁpur Colonels E. W. West and W. F. F. Waller and RÁo BahÁdur Yeshvant M. Kelkar. The names of numerous other contributors both in and out of Government service who gave help in compiling information connected with their districts have been shewn in the body of each District Statistical Account. Of these the learned and most ungrudging assistance received from Dr. J. Gerson DaCunha of Bombay requires special recognition.

The third main source of preparation was the Compiler’s head-quarters office. Through the interest which Mr. Francis Chapman took in the Gazetteer the Compiler was able to secure the services as Assistant of RÁo BÁhÁdur BhimbhÁi KirpÁrÁm who was Head Accountant in the Kaira Treasury when the Statistical Account of Kaira was under preparation in 1874. Mr. BhimbhÁi’s minute knowledge of administrative detail, his power of asking for information in the form least troublesome to district establishments, and of checking the information received, together with his talent for directing the work at head-quarters formed one of the most important elements in the success of the Gazetteer arrangements. Besides to the interest taken by Mr. Francis Chapman the Gazetteer owed much to the advice and to the support of Sir W. W. Hunter, who, in spite of the delay and expense which it involved, secured the full record of the survey and other details in which the Bombay revenue system is specially rich.

In addition to RÁo BahÁdur BhimbhÁi, the members of the Compiler’s office whose work entitles them almost to a place among contributors are: RÁo SÁheb KrishnarÁo Narsinh, who drafted many of the Land Revenue and Survey Histories; the late Mr. Ganesh BhikÁji Gunjikar, B.A., who drafted many of the Political Histories; the late Mr. VaikunthrÁm ManmathrÁm Mehta, B.A., and RÁo BahÁdur ItchÁrÁm BhagvÁndÁs, B.A., who drafted many articles on Description, Production, Agriculture, Capital, and Trade; Mr. K. RaghunÁthji who prepared many of the fullest caste accounts; Mr. RatirÁm DurgÁrÁm, B.A., who drafted many papers on places of interest; and Messrs. Yeshvant Nilkanth and MahÁdev G. NÁdkarni who drafted many of the sections on Population, Agriculture, Capital, and Trade.

Other officers of Government who have had an important share in the satisfactory completion of the Gazetteer are: Mr. J. Kingsmill the former and Mr. FrÁmroz Rustamji the present Superintendent of the Government Central Press and Mr. T. E. Coleman the Head Examiner, whose unfailing watchfulness has detected many a mistake. Mr. Waite the late Superintendent of the Photozincographic Press and Mr. T. LeMesurier the present Superintendent have supplied a set of most handy, clear, and accurate maps.

A further means adopted for collecting information was the preparation of papers on the different social, economic, and religious subjects which had proved of interest in preparing the earliest District Statistical Accounts. Between 1874 and 1880 forty-nine question papers which are given as an Appendix to the General Index Volume were from time to time printed and circulated. The answers received to these papers added greatly to the fullness and to the local interest of all the later Statistical Accounts.

The Statistical Accounts of the eighteen British districts and eighty-two Native States of the Bombay Presidency, together with the Materials towards a Statistical Account of the Town and Island of Bombay extend over thirty-three Volumes and 17,800 pages. In addition to these Statistical Accounts 475 articles were prepared in 1877–78 for the Imperial Gazetteer.

JAMES MACNABB CAMPBELL.