JALAUN, a town and district of British India, in the Jhansi division of the United Provinces. Pop. of town (1931), 8.236. Formerly it was the residence of a Mahratta governor, but never the headquarters of the district, which are at Orai, an equally in significant village (pop. The DISTRICT OF JALAUN has an area of 1,549 sq.m. It lies entirely within the level plain of Bundelkhand, north of the hill country, and is almost surrounded by the Jumna and its tributaries the Betwa and Pahuj. The central region thus enclosed is a dead level of cultivated land, largely black-cotton soil, and almost tree less. The river Non flows through the centre of the district, which it drains by innumerable small ravines instead of watering. Jalaun has suffered much from the noxious kans grass, owing to the spread of which many villages have been abandoned and their lands thrown out of cultivation. Pop. (1931) 426,022. The two largest towns are Kunch (15,150), and Kalpi (9,843). The dis trict is particularly susceptible to famine and only a small part of it is watered by the Betwa canal. Grain, oil-seeds, cotton and ghi are exported.
In early times Jalaun seems to have been the home of two Rajput clans, the Chandels in the east and the Kachwahas in the west. The town of Kalpi on the Jumna was conquered for the
princes of Ghor as early as 1196. Early in the 14th century the Bundelas occupied the greater part of Jalaun, and even after Ak bar's governors established at Kalpi a nominal authority over the surrounding district, the Bundela chiefs were in a state of chronic revolt, which culminated in the war of independence under Chha tar Sal. In 1671, assisted by the Mahrattas, he reduced the whole of Bundelkhand. On his death he bequeathed one-third of his do minions to his Mahratta allies, who before long succeeded in an nexing them completely. Under Mahratta rule the country was a prey to constant anarchy and intestine strife. To this period must be traced the origin of the poverty and desolation which are still conspicuous throughout the district. In 1806 Kalpi was made over to the British, and in 1840, on the death of Nana Gobind Ras, his possessions lapsed to them also. Various interchanges of territory took place, and in 1856 the present boundaries were substantially settled.