SARAN  , a

district of British India, in the Tirhut division of Bengal . Area, 2674 sq. m . It is a vast alluvial plain, 'possessing scarcely any undulations, but with a genera] inclination towards the south-east, as indicated by the flow of the rivers in that direction . The principal rivers, besides the Ganges, are the Gandak and Gogra, which are navigable throughout the year . The district has long been noted for its high state of cultivation . It yields large crops of rice, besides other cereals, pulses, oil seeds, poppy, indigo and sugar-cane . The population in 1901 was 2,409,509, showing a decrease of 2.2 %, compared with an increase of 7.4% in the previous decade . The average density of population, 901 per square mile, is the, highest rate for all India . The indigo industry, formerly of the first importance, has declined, and sugar refining has in great part taken its place . Some saltpetre is produced, and shellac is manufactured, Saran is exposed to drought and flood . It suffered from the famine of 1874, and again in 1896-1899 . An irrigation scheme from the river Gandak, started in 1878, proved a failure, after' a capital expenditure of Rs .

7,00,000 . The Bengal

North-Western railway runs through the south of the district . The administrative headquarters are at Chapra . See Saran District Gazetteer (Calcutta, 1908) .