Pilibhit, a town and district of British India, in the Bareilly division of the United Provinces. The town - pop. (1901), 33,490 - contains the mosque of Hafiz Rahmat Khan, the Rohilla chieftain, built in the second half of the 18th century. Trade is mainly in agricultural produce, and in the products of the neighbouring Himalayan territory and Nepal.
The District Of Pilibhit has an area of 1350 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 470,339, showing a decrease of 3% in the decade. Though so near the Himalayas it is entirely a plain. In its midst is the Mala swamp. The east is forest-clad, poor and unhealthy; on the other side of the Mala the land becomes more fertile. The chief river is the Sarda, and the Gumti rises in the east. The principal crops are rice, pulses, wheat and sugar-cane. Sugar-refining is carried on, and sugar, wheat, rice and hemp are exported. The Lucknow-Bareilly section of the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway runs through the district, a portion of which is watered by the Rohilkhand canals.
