1890.] P. N. Bosa — Ohhattisgar : notes on its tribes, sects and castes. 271 
Terminalia citrina) are the most important. The former flourishes best 
on Knsam (^Garthamus tinfosius) and Palaa {Butea frondosa"). But it is 
also grown, though to a very subordinate extent, on Baer {Ziziplms 
jujuha) and a few other trees. The lac is mostly taken to Mirzapur. 
The Hurra is exported to Europe, through Bombay. 
Agriculture . — Chhattisgar is, or rather has been the land of plenty. 
To the people of tlie neighbouring districts, it has long been known as 
khalauti, or the “ Land of the Threshing-floors.” Rice, wheat, and 
linseed are the chief crops. Rice and wheat were formerly sold — and 
that too not so very long ago — at fabulously cheap prices. Only five 
or six years ago, after the opening of the Nagpur-Chhattisgar Railway, 
rice used to be sold, at some distance from its terminus at Nandgaou, 
for Re. 1-4 or less per mannd. But the price in 1889 was Rs. 2-8, 
and will no doubt go up still higher when the Bongal-Nagpur Railway 
system is completed. 
In the southeiTi and eastern portion of Raipur, as well as in Bilas- 
pnr generally, rice is the principal crop. In the western portion of the 
plain, w’heat appears to bo more largely grown than rice. Wherever 
there is black soil (kanhdr) wheat is preferably sown on it ; whereas 
rice is chiefly grown on sandy soil. Rice, however, is the principal 
crop. The area on which rice is grown in the districts of Raipur and 
Bilas23ur amounts to nearly two million acres, whereas the wheat area 
does not amount to more than 130,000 acres. 
Ilistorij . — The earliest traces of man we found in this district are 
•ome bone and pottery mounds by the Seonath river. They invariably 
3 ccur in the jilain country. Who the men were it is difficult to sur- 
mise. But, whoever they were, they had passed the stone age, and had 
been in the habit of using iron implements. In the south-western por- 
tion of the district of Raipur, away in the jungles, there are remains of 
rude forts and temples which tradition ascribes to a race of Gauli kings. 
No reliable information, however, is available about them. To a later 
period, belong the ruined temples and 8ati pillars of Balod, Gurur, 
Sirpur &c., some of which date back to the beginning of the Christian 
era. Mr. Boglar of the Archseological Survey finds evidence in an 
inscription of the extension of the Chalukya power right into the heart 
of the modern district of Raipur.* 
The authentic history of Chhattisgar dates back only to the middle 
of the eighth century, when Raja Suradeva of the well known Haihai 
family ruled at Ratanpurf in the district of Bilasjjur. The place is now 
* Arch. Surv. Rep. Vol. VII. p. 141. 
t Central Proviucea Gazetteer, p. 90. Mr. Boglar would not tillow this town 
any greater antiquity than the middle of the 15th century. [Op. cit., p. 166). 
