CHANDA  , a

town and district of British India, in the Nagpur division of the Central Provinces . In 1901 the town had a population of 17,803 . It is situated at the junction of the Virai and Jharpat rivers . It was the capital of the Gond kingdom of Chanda, which was established on the ruins of a Hindu state in the 11th or 12th century, and survived until 1751 (see GONDWANA) . The town is still surrounded by a stone wall 51 M. in circuit . It has several old temples and tombs, and the district at large is rich in remains of antiquity . There are manufactures . of cotton, silk, brass-ware and leather slippers, and a considerable local trade . The DISTRICT OF CHANDA has an area of 10,156 sq. m . Excepting in the extreme west, hills are thickly dotted over the country, sometimes in detached ranges, occasionally in isolated peaks rising sheer out from the plain . Towards the east they increase in height, and form a broad tableland, at places 2000 ft. above sea-level . The Wainganga river flows through the district from north to south, meeting the Wardha river at Seoni, where their streams unite to form the Pranhita . Chanda is thickly studded with fine tanks, or rather artificial lakes, formed by closing the outlets of small valleys, or by throwing a dam across tracts intersected by streams .

The broad clear sheets of

water thus created are often very picturesque in their surroundings of wood and rock . The chief architectural objects of interest are the cave temples at Bhandak, Winjbasani, Dewala and Ghugus; a rock temple in the bed of the Wardha river below Ballalpur; the ancient temples at Markandi, Ambgaon and elsewhere; the forts of Wairagarh and Ballalpur; and the old walls of the city of Chanda, its system of waterworks, and the tombs of the Gond kings . In 1901 the population was 601,533, showing a decrease of 15% in the decade . The principal crops are rice, millet, pulse, wheat, oil-seeds and cotton . The district contains the coalfield of Warora, which was worked by government till 1906, when it was closed . Other fields are known, and iron ores also occur . The district suffered severely from famine in 1900, when in April the number of persons relieved rose to 90,000 .