RANCHI  , a

town and district of British India, in the Chota Nagpur division of Bengal . The town, which is situated on the Chota Nagpur plateau, about 2100 ft. above sea-level, is the headquarters of both the division and the district . Pop . (1901) 25,970 . It is an important centre of local trade and the headquarters of the German Lutheran mission . There are a high school and an industrial school, and it is proposed to found here a residential college for all Bengal . The cantonments, formerly called Doranda, accommodate a detachment of native infantry . The DISTRICT OF RANCHI, formerly called Lohardaga after the town which was its headquarters, has an area of 7128 sq. m . It consists of two tablelands, of which the higher rises to about 2000 ft . The whole area is broken by hills and undulations, which are terraced for rice . The steep slopes are covered with a dense forest, where wild animals still abound, but no profit is derived from the timber . The principal rivers are the Subanarekha and the North and South Koel .

In 1901 the

population was 1,187,925, showing an increase of 5.2% in the decade . Christians form to% of the total . The district was affected by the famine of 1896–1897, and still more severely by that of 190o . Rice is everywhere the staple crop, with some millets and pulses . Tea cultivation has been introduced, but does not flourish . The only industry on a large scale is themanufacture of shellac . Myrobalans are also exported . Iron and soapstone are worked in small quantities . Hopes of profitable gold-mining in the quartz veins of the schist formation have proved abortive . There is no railway in the district, though surveys have been made to connect with the Bengal-Nagpur line . See F . B .

Bradley-Birt, Chota Nagpur (1903) .