136 
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF KAS'MIR. [Extra No. 2, 
servative in tlieir topographical nomenclature as in many other matters. 
The old Pargana names are hence still in ordinary use and likely 
to remain so for some time to come. 1 2 
The absence of a complete list of Parganas for an earlier period 
and the changes in their constitution during more recent times make a 
systematic exposition of the ancient territorial divisions impracticable. 
In a separate note I have given a comparative table of the Pargana lists 
we possess since Akbar’s time. There too I have indicated the ancient 
equivalents of the Pargana names, as far as they can be traced in the 
Sanskrit Chronicles. 3 We shall have occasion to refer to these names 
and their history in the course of our detailed survey of ancient locali¬ 
ties in the Valley. 
87 . The large number of administrative sub-divisions which as 
we have seen goes back to an early date, may 
Density of popula- u £ , , 
.. . , - be taken as an indication or the dense popu- 
tion in old Kasmir. . 11 
lation then occupying the Valley. We have 
no means of forming any accurate estimate as to the number of the 
population which the country contained in Hindu times. But there is 
every reason to believe that even at a later period it was far larger than 
at the present day. The existence of a very great number of deserted 
village-sites, in all parts of the country, the remains already alluded to 
of a far more extended system of irrigation, the number of great temple 
ruins, and the uniform tradition of the people,—all point to the same 
conclusion. 
The present century has witnessed in Kasmir a series of appalling 
famines and epidemics, which wrought terrible havoc in the mass of the 
rural population particularly. The last famine, 1878-79, alone is 
supposed to have removed three-fifth of the population from the Valley. 3 
The political vicissitudes of the first half of the century had a baneful 
influence on the economical condition of Kasmir and brought about 
an extensive emigration both among the industrial and agriculturist 
classes. Notwithstanding all these trials the population which in 1835 
was estimated at about 200,000 souls, had risen to 814,000 according to 
the census of 1891. 
These figures indicate great powers of recuperation. Yet it is held 
by competent judges that the present agricultural population is by no 
means sufficient even for the land actually under cultivation. It would, 
hence manifestly be hazardous to make any guess as to the numbers 
1 The Survey of India maps indicates the approximate extent of the Parganas 
recognized in the fifties. 
2 See Supplementary Note BB. 
s Compare for this and other statistical details Mr. Lawrence’s Valley, p. 223 sqq, 
