BIRBHUM, a district of British India in the Burdwan di vision of Bengal, bounded on the south by the river Ajai. The administrative headquarters are at Suri (pop. Io,9o8). The district has an area of 1,699sq.m. and a population (1931) of 947,554. The eastern portion is the ordinary alluvial plain of the Gangetic delta ; the western part consists of undulating ridges of laterite. The Ajai, Bakheswar and Mor or Maurakshi, are the principal rivers. The chief industry is the spinning and weaving of silk, chiefly from tussur or jungle silk-worms.
Birbhum in the early part of the 13th century constituted a Hindu State, with its capital at Rajnagar or Nagar which was conquered by the Mohammedans. At the beginning of the i8th century it appears as a kind of military fief held under the nawab of Bengal by one Asadullah Khan. It passed into British pos session in 1765, suffered terribly from the famine of 177o, and between 1785 and ino was a prey to armed bands of dacoits who found a refuge in the great jungle on the western border. Since that time (except during the Santal rising of 1855) the district has been peaceful and prosperous.