An Account of the Districts of Bihar And Patna in 1811-1812 (Set of 2 Volumes)

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It is a matter of great satisfaction that the Reprints of much- demanded Buchanan's Reports are being published by the Department of Art, Culture & Youth, Bihar. In recent time, the Department has published a good number of books, coffee-table books, monographs and so on. The present publication, it is hoped, would serve the needs of important academic and research pursuits.

Francis Buchanan (1762-1829) was a British scientific explorer and surveyor who observed and recorded flora and fauna, ecology, society and economy of Bengal, which at that time included Bihar as well. Qualified as a surgeon by profession, Buchanan was posted in Bengal in 1793. From 1807 Francis Buchanan began his most memorable venture by undertaking a study tour through Northern Bengal and Bihar. Historians, social and natural scientists draw heavily on the reports of Buchanan for the first hand information on Bengal and Bihar of his time.

The original manuscript copies of these accounts are housed in the Oriental and India Office Collection in the British Library, London. Soon after Buchanan's death, these accounts, in addition to an account of Assam, were edited and published by R. Montgomery Martin under the title History, Antiquities, Topography, and Statistics of Eastern India. Martin has since been roundly criticized by students of the Buchanan manuscripts for his random and rather indiscreet editorial cuts of valuable material while preparing the volumes for publication. It failed to give Buchanan enough explicit credit as the sole author of the work. This was salvaged to some extent by the publication of the original accounts of the Bihar districts by the Bihar and Orissa Research Society between 1928 and 1939.

In 1807 the Directors of the East India Company, in a dispatch to the Governor General in Council recommended that a statistical survey of Bengal should be undertaken, and that the work should be carried out by Dr. Francis Buchanan who had been employed in the survey of Mysore; and Dr. Buchanan was accordingly appointed to this work, with the following directions from the Governor-General in Council, which were issued on the 11th of September 1807.

"Your inquiries are to extend throughout the whole of the territories subject to the immediate authority of the Presidency of Fort William.

"The Governor General in Council is of opinion that these inquiries should commence in the district of Rungpur, and that from thence you should proceed to the westward through each district on the north side of the Ganges, until you reach the western boundary of the Honourable Company's provinces. You will then proceed towards the south and east, until you have examined all the districts on the south side of the great river, and afterwards proceed to Dacca, and the other districts towards the eastern frontier.