1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mirzapur

MIRZAPUR, a city and district of British India, in the Benares division of the United Provinces. The city is on the right bank of the Ganges; a station on the East Indian railway, about halfway between Allahabad and Benares, 509 m. N.W. from Calcutta. Pop. (1901), 79,862. The river front, lined with stone ghats or flights of stairs, mosques, Hindu temples and dwelling-houses of the wealthier merchants, is handsome; but the interior of the town is mainly composed of mud huts. Formerly it was the emporium of trade between central India and Bengal, which has now been diverted to the railways. It has European and native lace factories, and manufactures brass vessels and woollen carpets. The London Mission manages a high school and an orphanage. The municipal limits include the town of Bindhachal, an important centre of pilgrimage, with the shrine of Vindhyeshwari.

The District of Mirzapur extends into the Sone valley. Area, 5238 sq. m. It is crossed from east to west by the Vindhya and Kaimur ranges. A central jungly plateau connects these and separates the valley of the Ganges from that of the Sone. The part north of the Vindhyas is highly cultivated and thickly peopled, but the rest of the district consists largely of ravines and forests with a sparse population. The population in 1901 was 1,082,430, showing a decrease of 6·8% in the decade. The district comprises a large part of the hereditary domains of the raja of Benares, which are revenue-free. It is traversed, near the Ganges, by the main line of the East Indian railway. The Great Southern road used to start from the city.