MUZAFFARNAGAR  , a

town and district of British India, in the Meerut division of the United Provinces . The town is 790 ft. above the sea, and has a station on the North-Western railway . Pop . (19o1), 23,444 . It is an important trading centre and has a manufacture of blankets . It was founded about 1633 by the son of Muzaffar Khan, Khan-i-Jahan, one of the famous Sayid family who rose to power under the emperor Shah Jahan . The DISTRICT OF MUZAFFARNAGAR has an area of 1666 sq. m . It lies near the northern extremity of the Doab or great alluvial plain between the Ganges and the Jumna, and shares to a large extent in the general monotony of that level region . A great' portion is sandy and unfertae; but under irrigation the soil is rapidly improving, and in many places the villagers have succeeded in introducing a high state of cultivation . Before the opening of the canals Muzaffarnagar was liable to famines caused by drought; but the danger from this has been minimized by the spread of irrigation . It is traversed by four main canals, the Ganges, Anupshahr, Deoband and Eastern Jumna . Its trade is confined to the raw materials it produces .

The

climate of the district is comparatively cool, owing to the proximity of the hills; and the average annual rainfall is 33 in . The population in 1901 was 877,188, showing an increase of 13.5 % in the decade, which was a period of unexampled prosperity . The principal crops are wheat, pulse, cotton and sugar-cane . The district is crossed by the North-Western railway from Delhi to Saharanpur . Hindu tradition represents Muzaffarnagar as having formed a portion of the Pandava kingdom of the Mahabharata; authentic history, however, dates from the time of the Moslem conquests in the 13th century, from which time it remained a dependency of the various Mahommedan dynasties which ruled at Delhi until the practical downfall of the Mogul Empire in the middle of the 18th century . In 1788 the district fell into the hands of the Mahrattas . After the fall of Aligarh, the whole Doab as far north as the Siwalik hills passed into the hands of the British without a blow, and Muzaffarnagar became part of Saharanpur . It was created a separate jurisdiction in 1824 . During the Mutiny there was some disorder, chiefly occasioned by official weakness, but no severe fighting . See Muzaffarnagar District Gazetteer (Allahabad, 1903) .