164 
J. Beames —On the Geography of India , 
[No. 3, 
The southern boundary has in fact always been vague and unde¬ 
fined. The Muhammadan forces consisting as they did, chiefly of cavalry, 
seem to have been very easily beaten back from broken or rocky country, 
and it will be seen further on how even the insignificant hills which cut 
in two the southern part of the province impinging on the Ganges at 
Mungir, remain independent down to a comparatively late period, and 
how the names of the mahals in Sarkar Bihar and Mungir testify to 
the scattered nature of Muhammadan power in those parts. 
The Ganges, Son, and Gandak are mentioned as the chief rivers of 
the province, and a petrifying power is ascribed to the waters of the 
Son. This is true only of certain springs in the upper part of its course. 
It is also correctly stated that the Son, Narbadda and Jhula rivers all 
rise close to each other on the Amarkantak mountain.* But on the 
whole the geographical details regarding this Subah are decidedly meagre 
when contrasted with those of Subahs nearer the capital. 
Todar Mai’s Settlement of A. D. 1582 lasted unaltered only for about 
a century, a fresh Settlement having been made in the 27th year of 
Aurangzeb, A. D. 1685—by which the total revenue of the province was 
raised from fifty-five to eighty-five lakhs. The only territorial change was 
the division of the old Sarkar of Ruhtas into two ; Rulitas and Bhojpur. 
This Settlement did not remain in force so long as its predecessor 
having been superseded in 1750, at a time when the power of the Mughal 
dynasty had virtually come to an end, by a fresh Settlement the details 
of which were carried out by Janaki Ram the Naib'Diwan of Bihar, 
under the orders of Ali Yardi Khan. Subahdar of Bengal. The revenue 
was now further raised to ninety-five and a half lakhs. Although the 
old territorial divisions of Sarkars and mahals remained nominally un¬ 
changed, there were nevertheless in reality very great changes made. It 
would lead me too far from my present subject to enter into details of 
these changes, and they could not be understood without reference to 
official maps which are not available to the public. The object aimed at 
was the increase of the revenue levied from the people to the highest 
practicable point, while the increase of revenue payable to the central 
Government should be as small as possible, so that there might remain 
* There is apparently an error in the Persian text of the Ain (Vol. I, p. 416) 
where the Son is said to fall into the Ganges from the north instead of from the 
south. The text is here, however, corrupt. That the Son is meant seems clear from 
the mention of Munir as the point of junction. If we can read the doubtful word 
or J?/ J as sar yn j the passage would refer to the Ghogra, which does fal 
into the Ganges from the north oppposite Munir. Possibly the word or 
preceding may be for nai - nadi ‘ river j 5 as Abul Fazl sometimes 
employs Hindi words. 
