Bundi Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Bundi Town
Capital of the State of the same name in Rajput- ana, situated in 25° 27' N. and 75° 39' E., about 100 miles south-east of Ajmer city. It is said to be named after a Mina chieftain called Bunda, from whose grandson it was taken by Rao Dewa about 1342. Population (1901), 19,313. The town possesses a combined post and telegraph office, a jail, a high school attended by 160 boys, and a hospital with accommodation for 11 in-patients, in which 9,362 cases were treated in 1904 and 343 operations were performed.
Bundi is one of the most picturesque towns in Rajputana. It is situated in a gorge nearly surrounded by wooded hills, and is entirely enclosed within walled fortifications through which ingress and egress are obtained by means of four gateways : namely, the Bhairon Gate on the west, the Chaogan Gate on the south, the Baton Pol on the east, and the Shukl Baori Gate on the north. The streets and houses rise and fall with the unevenness of the ground, and som.e of the suburbs have crept upwards on both of the northern slopes.
The principal bazar, nearly 50 feet in width, runs throughout the whole length of the town, but the other streets are narrow and very irregular. The palace, rising up above the town in pinnacled terraces on the slope of a hill having an elevation of over 1,400 feet above sea-level, is a striking feature of the place. Tod writes that, throughout Rajputana, which boasts many fine palaces, that of Bundi is allowed to possess the first rank, for -which it is indebted to situation not less than to the splendid additions which it has continually received : for it is an aggregate of palaces, each having the name of its founder. and yet the whole so well harmonizes and the character of the architec- ture is so uniform that its breaks or fantasies appear only to arise from the peculiarity of the position and serve to diversify its beauties.'
Above the palace is the fort of Taragarh, and a spur of the same hill is surmounted by a large and very handsome chhatri, called the Suraj or ' sun-dome,' whose cupola rests on sixteen pillars and is about 20 feet in diameter. Beyond this to the north-west lies the Phul Sagar or ' flower tank,' and a small palace, the summer residence of the chief ; and to the south-west of this is the Naya Bagh or Bajrangbilas. To the north-east of the town is another tank, the Jet Sagar or Bara Talao, on the embank- ment of which stands an open palace called the Sukh Mahal ; and a little farther on is the Sar Bagh, the place of cremation for the Bundi chiefs. Immediately to the east of the town rises an abrupt cliff 1,426 feet above the sea ; and on its summit is a small mosque said to have been built before the Hara Rajputs came here, and called after Miran, a Muham- madan saint, whose tomb is at Ajmer.
