CIS-SUTLEJ STATES

cis-sutlej states, the southern portion of the punjab, india. the name, now obsolete, came into use in 1809, when the sikh chiefs south of the sutlej passed under british protection, and was generally applied to the country south of the sutlej and north of the delhi territory, bounded on the e. by the himalayas, and on the w. by sirsa district. before 1846 the greater part of this territory was independent, the chiefs being subject merely to control from a political officer stationed at umballa, and styled the agent of the governor-general for the cis-sutlej states. after the first sikh war the full administration of the territory became vested in this officer. in 1849 occurred the annexation of the punjab, when the cis-sutlej states commissionership, comprising the districts of umballa, ferozepore, ludhiana, thanesar and simla, was incorporated with the new province. the name continued to be applied to this division until 1862, when, owing to ferozepore having been transferred to the lahore, and a part of thanesar to the delhi division, it ceased to be appropriate. since then, the tract remaining has been known as the umballa division. patiala, jind and nabha were appointed a separate political agency in 1901. excluding bahawalpur, for which there is no political agent, and chamba, the other states are grouped under the commissioners of jullunder and delhi, and the superintendent of the simla hill states. cist (gr. [greek: kiste], lat. _cista_, a box; cf. ger. _kiste_, welsh _kistvaen_, stone-coffin, and also the other eng. form "chest"), in greek archaeology, a wicker-work receptacle used in the eleusinian and other mysteries to carry the sacred vessels; also, in the archaeology of prehistoric man, a coffin formed of flat stones placed edgeways with another flat stone for a cover. the word is also used for a sepulchral chamber cut in the rock (see coffin). "cistern," the common term for a water-tank, is a derivation of the same word (lat. _cisterna_; cf. "cave" and "cavern").