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Saugor

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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or Sagar, a town and district of British India, in the Jubbulpore division of the Central Provinces. The town, in a picturesque situation on a spur of the Vindhyan hills, 1758 ft. above sea-level, has a station on the Indian Midland railway. Pop. (1901) 42,330. It has long ceased to be a growing place, though it is still third in importance in the province. It was founded in 1660, but owes its importance to having been made the capital of the Mahratta governor who established himself here in 1735. The cantonments contain a battery of artillery, a detachment of a European regiment, a native cavalry and a native infantry regiment. The town is handsomely built, and is an emporium of trade.

The District Of Saugor has an area of 3962 sq. M. It is an extensive, elevated and in parts tolerably level plain, broken in places by low hills of the Vindhyan sandstone. It is traversed by numerous streams, chief of which are the Sunar, Beas, Dhasan and Bina, all flowing in a northerly direction towards the valley of the Ganges. In the southern and central parts the soil is black, formed by decaying trap; to the north and east it is a reddish-brown alluvium. Iron ore of excellent quality is found and worked at Hirapur, a small village in the extreme north-east. The district contains several densely wooded tracts, the largest of which is the Ramna teak forest preserve in the north.

The population in 1901 was 469,479, showing a decrease of 20% in the decade, due to the results of famine. The principal crops are wheat, millet, pulse, oil-seeds and a little cotton. The main line of the Indian Midland railway crosses the district, with a branch from Bina to Katni on the East Indian system.

By a treaty concluded with the Mahratta Peshwa in 1818, the greater part of the present district was made over to the British; and the town became the capital of the. Saugor and Nerbudda Territories, then attached to the North-western Provinces. During the Mutiny of 1857 the whole district was in the possession of the rebels, excepting the town and fort, in which the Europeans were shut up for eight months, till relieved by Sir Hugh Rose. The rebels were totally defeated and order was again restored by March 1858. See the Saugor District Gazetteer (Allahabad, 1907).