rom the apparent greatness which it had reached ten years ago,
sank into hopeless anarchy.

See PERSIA: _Ancient History_. For the Roman wars see authorities
quoted under MAURICE and HERACLIUS. (ED. M.)

CHOTA (or CHUTIA) NAGPUR, a division of British India in Bengal,
consisting of five British districts and two feudatory states. It is a
hilly, forest-clad plateau, inhabited mostly by aboriginal races,
between the basins of the Sone, the Ganges and the Mahanadi. The five
British districts are Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Palamau, Manbhum and
Singhbhum. The total area of the British districts is 27,101 sq. m. The
population in 1901 was 4,900,429. The tributary states are noticed
separately below. The Chota Nagpur plateau is an offshoot of the great
Vindhyan range, and its mean elevation is upwards of 2000 ft. above the
sea-level. In the W. it rises to 3600 ft., and to the E. and S. its
lower steppe, from 800 to 1000 ft. in elevation, comprises a great
portion of the Manbhum and Singhbhum districts. The whole is about
14,000 sq. m. in extent, and forms the source of the Barakhar, Damodar,
Kasai, Subanrekha, Baitarani, Brahmani, Ib and other rivers. _Sal_
forests abound. The principal jungle products are timber, various kinds
of medicinal fruits and herbs, lac, tussur silk and _mahua_ flowers,
which are used as food by the wild tribes and also distilled into a
strong country liquor. Coal exists in large quantities, and is worked in
the Jherria, Hazaribagh, Giridih and Gobindpur districts. The chief
workings are at Jherria, which were started in 1893, and have developed
into one of the largest coal-fields in India. Formerly gold was washed
from the sands in the bed of the Subanrekha river, but the operations
are now almost wholly abandoned. Iron-ores abound, together with good
building stone. The indigenous inhabitants consist of non-Aryan tribes
who were driven from the plains by the Hindus and took refuge in the
mountain fastnesses of the Chota Nagpur plateau. The principal of them
are Kols, Santals, Oraons, Dhangars, Mundas and Bhumij. These tribes
were formerly turbulent, and a source of trouble to the Mahommedan
governors of Bengal and Behar; but the introduction of British rule has
secured peace and security, and the aboriginal races of Chota Nagpur are
now peaceful and orderly subjects. The principal agricultural products
are rice, Indian corn, pulses, oil-seeds and potatoes. A small quantity
of tea is grown