History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c36.s5.1

v3.c36.s5.1

We shall next pass on to the punishment of Rajah Pratap Rai Chero and the annexation of his kingdom, PALAMAU, which took place only two months after the fall of Champat Rai. Beyond the southern limits of Bihar lies the district of Palamau, as a sort of rugged step leading to the plateau of Chota Nagpur on the south-east and the Central Provinces on the south-west. It is a wild country, broken up by spurs and peaks, with many rainy-weather rivers unfit for navigation and yielding no assured supply of water for irrigation. The southern part of the district is extremely rocky barren and jungly; in the northern part the valleys are a little wider and more fertile; but "nowhere in the district is it possible to get more than six or seven miles from a well-defined hill. There are no level plains, and the general appearance of the district is that of a confused mass of rocky hills, mostly covered by a dense growth of jungle. From the summit of a ridge or hill, the country appears covered by a waving sheet of low forest, with all signs of human habitation concealed from view, except perhaps a glimpse here and there of a low red tiled roof, a distant grove of trees, or an occasional herd of cattle." The population is scanty, living in small and scattered villages embosomed in the hollows among the hills.[*]