1871.] Notes on Chut id Nagpur, Packet, and Palamau, 
111 
Notes from Muhammadan Historians on Chutid Nagpur, Packet, 
and Palamau.—By H. Blochmann, Esq., M. A., Calcutta 
Madrasah. 
The hilly tracts in the south of Bihar, which comprise Palamau, 
Bamgarh, and Chutia Nagpur, are hut rarely mentioned by Muham¬ 
madan Historians. The earlier histories which we possess, say 
nothing about them, and it was only during the Mughul Period, 
when further conquests in the East were impracticable, that the 
governors of Bengal and Bihar turned their attention to the ter¬ 
ritories of the independent Bajahs to the south of their province. 
In the Alibarndmah, the whole tract from Birbhum. and Pachet to 
Batanpiir in Central India, and from Bohtasgarh in South Bihar to 
the frontier of Orisa, is called ‘Jharkhand,’ or jungle land. 
There are several geographical names that have the same significa¬ 
tion ; we find them especially in such districts as are now inhabited 
by aboriginal races. Thus the Gond word dongar means ‘ a jungle,’ 
* wilderness,’ and hence the numerous Dongars, Dongris, Dongar- 
purs, Dongarganws, Dongartals, in Western and Central India. 
Even the word bir in Birbhum, notwithstanding the various etymolo¬ 
gies which have been proposed, is, I believe, nothing else but the 
Mundarl bir, a forest. 
The Bajahs of South Bihar and of the provinces along the 
Western frontier of Bengal gave the emperors of Dihli a good deal 
of trouble. During the reign of Akbar, Gajpati and his brother 
Bairi Sal, Bajahs of Jagdespur, defied the Mughul armies for 
several years, though the unequal combat led to their entire de¬ 
struction ; Sangram Sail of K’harakpur lost his life in a similar 
struggle, and his son and successors were forced to become con¬ 
verts to Islam ; Bajah Dalpat of Bhojpur, near Baksar (Buxar), 
was defeated and imprisoned, and when Akbar at length set 
him at liberty on payment of an enormous present, he again 
armed, and continued to rebel under Jahangir, till Bhojpur was 
sacked, and his successor, Bajah Partab, was executed by Shahja- 
han, whilst the Bani was forced to marry a Muhammadan courtier. 
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