“ 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. ”