KHANDESH, a district in the northern part of the Bombay Presidency, lying between lat. 15' and 22° N., and long. 73° 37' and 76° 24' E., with an area of 10,162 square miles, and a popu lation in 1872 of 1,028,642 souls. It is divided into two parts by the river Tapti, the southern portion being drained by the Girna. Khandesh is an extensive and well-watered plain, inter spersed with ranges of low barren hills, at the base of which run numerous rivers and rivulets, flowing from the table-land into the river Tapti. It is surrounded by lofty mountains clothed with trees, and very unhealthy. On the north are the Satpura mountains, clothed with forest ; on the west is the steep and stony Sukhein range, with tangled masses of bamboo ; and on the south are the ranges of Chandore Saatmulla and Ajunta, with babul jungle in the dells ; and on the east low sterile hillocks separate it from Berar. Under Muhammadan rulers, Khandesh attained to much prosperity, but it was ravished by Holkar's army in A.D. 1802. followed in 1803 by
a famine. Up to this, the Bhil race had mixed with the other inhabitants, and been watchmen and policemen of the district, but they then with drew to the surrounding mountains. The Kunbi are the main body of the cultivating population of Gujerat, Khandesh, Maharashtra, and the Central Provinces. The settled ,agricultural people are chiefly Kunbi, with large numbers of Rajputs and Hindus from Northern India.
Besides the Mahratta cultivators, who are Kunbi by caste, large numbers of Pardeshi and Rajputs have long been settled in the district. Gujars are the most industrious and of the agricultural population, — Banya from Marwar and Gujerat, and Bhatia, late corners from Bombay. Wandering and aboriginal tribes form a large section of the population, and Bhils, 11'87 per cent. of the whole, are the most important, with Banjara or Lamani, the pack -bullock carriers of former times.—Imp. Gaz.