Seoni

Seoni, a town and district of British India, in the Jubbulpore division of the Central Provinces. The town is 2043 ft. above sea-level, half-way on the road between Nagpur and Jubbulpore. Pop. (1901) 11,864. It was founded in 1774, and contains large, public gardens, a fine market place and a handsome tank.

The District Of Sl oN1 forms part of the Satpura tableland, containing the headwaters of the Wainganga. It is largely covered with forest, and 4 o% of the inhabitants belong to aboriginal tribes. Area 3206 sq. m. The district is remarkable for the beauty of its scenery and the fertility of its valleys. The northern and western portions include the plateaus of Lakhnadon and Seoni; the eastern section consists of the watershed and elevated basin of the Wainganga; and in the south-west is a narrow strip of rocky land known as Dongartal. The plateaus of Seoni and Lakhnadon vary in height from 1800 to 2000 ft.; they are well cultivated and clear of jungle, and their temperature is always moderate and healthy. Geologically the north part of Seoni consists of trap hills and the south of crystalline rock. The soil of the plateaus is the rich black cotton soil formed by distintegrated trap, of which about two-thirds of the district are said to consist; but towards the south, where cliffs of gneiss and other primitive formations occur, the soil is silicious and contains a large proportion of clay. The chief river is the Wainganga, with its affluents the Hiri, Sagar, Theli, Bijna and Thanwar; other streams are the Timar and the Sher, tributaries of the Nerbudda. The annual rainfall averages 53 in. The population in 1901 was 327,709, showing a decrease of 12% in the decade due to the effects of famine. The principal crops are wheat, millets, rice, pulse, oil-seeds and cotton. Three lines of, the Bengal-Nagpur system traverse the district.

There is also a town called Seoni, or Seoni-Malwa, in the Central Provinces, a railway station in Hoshangabad district. Pop. (1901) 7531.

See R. A. Sterndale, Seonee, or Camp Life on the Satpura Range (1877); Seoni District Gazetteer (Allahabad, 1907).