1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Purnea

PURNEA or Purniah, a town and district of British India, in the Bhagalpur division of Bengal. The town is on the left bank of the little river Saura, with a railway station. Pop. (1901), 14, oo7. It has a bad reputation for fever.

The District of Purnea has an area of 4994 sq. m. and a population (1901) of 1,874,794, showing a decrease of 3.6% in the decade. The district extends from the Ganges northwards to the frontier of Nepal. It is a level, depressed tract of country, consisting for the most part of a rich, loamy soil of alluvial formation. It is traversed by several rivers flowing from the Himalayas, which afford great advantages of irrigation and water-carriage; in the west the soil is thickly covered with sand deposited by changes in the course of the Kusi. Among other rivers are the Mahananda and the Panar. Under Mahommedan rule Purnea was an outlying province, yielding little revenue and often in a state of anarchy. Its local governor raised a rebellion against Suraj-ud-daula in 1757, after the capture of Calcutta. The principal crops are rice, pulses and oilseeds. The cultivation of indigo is declining, but that of jute is extending. The district is traversed by branches of the Eastern Bengal railway, which join the Bengal and North-Western railway at Katihar.