HATHRAS  , a

town of British India, in the Aligarh district of the United Provinces, 29 m . N. of Agra . Pop . (1901), 42,578 . At the end of the 18th century it was held by a Jat chieftain, whose ruined fort still stands at the east end of the town, and was annexed by the British in 1803, but insubordination on the part of the chief necessitated the siege of the fort in 1817 . Since it came under British rule, Hathras has rapidly risen to commercial importance, and now ranks second to Cawnpore among the trading centres of the Doab . The chief articles of commerce are sugar and grain, there are also factories for ginning and pressing cotton, and a cotton spinning-mill . Hathras is connected by a light railway with Muttra, and by a branch with Hathras junction, on the East Indain main line .