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                               GAZETTEER
                                OF THE
                           BOMBAY PRESIDENCY


                           VOLUME I. PART I.

                          HISTORY OF GUJARÁT.


                        UNDER GOVERNMENT ORDERS.


                                BOMBAY:
                PRINTED AT THE GOVERNMENT CENTRAL PRESS.
                                 1896.









                                      Bombay Castle, 14th February 1902.


In further recognition of the distinguished labours of Sir James
McNabb Campbell, K.C.I.E., and of the services rendered by those
who have assisted him in his work, His Excellency the Governor in
Council is pleased to order that the following extract from Government
Resolution No. 2885, dated the 11th August 1884, be republished and
printed immediately after the title page of Volume I, Part I, of the
Gazetteer, and published in every issue:


   "His Excellency the Governor in Council has from time to time
    expressed his entire approval of the Volumes of the Gazetteer
    already published, and now learns with much satisfaction that
    the remaining Statistical Accounts have been completed in
    the same elaborate manner. The task now brought to a close by
    Mr. Campbell has been very arduous. It has been the subject of
    his untiring industry for more than ten years, in the earlier
    part of which period, however, he was occasionally employed on
    additional duties, including the preparation of a large number
    of articles for the Imperial Gazetteer. When the work was begun,
    it was not anticipated that so much time would be required for
    its completion, because it was not contemplated that it would
    be carried out on so extensive a scale. Its magnitude may be
    estimated by the fact that the Statistical Accounts, exclusive of
    the general chapters yet to be reprinted, embrace twenty-seven
    Volumes containing on an average 500 pages each. Mr. Campbell
    could not have sustained the unflagging zeal displayed by him
    for so long a period without an intense interest in the subjects
    dealt with. The result is well worthy of the labour expended,
    and is a proof of the rare fitness of Mr. Campbell on the ground
    both of literary ability and of power of steady application
    for the important duty assigned to him. The work is a record of
    historical and statistical facts and of information regarding the
    country and the people as complete perhaps as ever was produced
    on behalf of any Government, and cannot fail to be of the utmost
    utility in the future administration of the Presidency.

   "2. The thanks of Government have already been conveyed to the
    various contributors, and it is only necessary now to add that
    they share, according to the importance of their contributions, in
    the credit which attaches to the general excellence of the work."


The whole series of Volumes is now complete, and His Excellency in
Council congratulates Sir James Campbell and all associated with him
in this successful and memorable achievement.


                                            H. O. QUIN,
                                            Secretary to Government,
                                            General Department.









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