Jungle Mahals is a vague term applied in the 18th century to British possessions and some independent chiefdoms lying between Birbhum

Birbhum district

Birbhum district is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the three administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is located at Suri...

, Bankura

Bankura District

Bankura district is one of the seven districts of Burdwan Division in the Indian state of West Bengal. The district has been described as the “connecting link between the plains of Bengal on the east and Chota Nagpur plateau on the west.” The areas to the east and north-east are low lying alluvial...

, Midnapore

Midnapore District

Midnapore district is a former district of the state of West Bengal, India. This district was bifurcated on January 1, 2002 into the Purba Medinipur district and the Paschim Medinipur district.-References:...

 and the hilly country of Chota Nagpur

Chota Nagpur

Chota Nagpur may refer to*Chota Nagpur Plateau*Chhotanagpur*Chota Nagpur Division, a division of British India *Chota Nagpur States, a collection of princely states of British India...

 in what is now the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

.It was a thickly forested region.

The vagueness of the jurisdiction caused inconvenience. In 1805, Regulation XVIII was passed whereby the areas known as Jungle Mahals was separated from the jurisdiction of the Magistrates of the districts of Burdwan

Bardhaman District

'Bardhaman district is a district in West Bengal. The headquarter of the district is Bardhaman, though it houses other important industrial towns like Durgapur and Asansol...

, Birbhum, Bankura and Midnapore and placed under a Magistrate of Jungle Mahals. The district thus formed was composed of 23 parganas and mahals. By Regulation XIII of 1833, the district of Jungle Mahals was broken up. The estates of Senpahari, Shergarh and Bishnupur were transferred to the district of Burdwan and the remainder constituted the district of Manbhum

Manbhum

Manbhum was one of the districts of the East India during the British Raj. After India’s independence, the district became a part of Bihar state, and upon re-organization of the Indian states in the mid-1950s, the district became a part of the West Bengal...

.