Cambay 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.
Cambay Town
{^Khambdyat or Khambhat). — Capital of the State of Cambay, Bombay, situated in 22° 18^ N. and 72° 40 E., at the head of the Gulf of Cambay, on the north of the estuary of the river MahT, 52 miles south of Ahmadabad. Population (1901), 31,780 : namely, 21,975 Hindus, 6,584 Muhammadans, 3,063 Jains, 23 Christians, • and 134 Parsis.
The city was originally surrounded by a brick wall perforated for musketry, flanked with irregular towers without fosse or esplanade ; but the works are now out of repair, and few of the guns mounted are serviceable. Only portions of the wall remain, enclosing a circumference of not more than 3 miles. The palace of the Nawab is in good repair, but built in an inferior style of architecture. The Jama Masjid was erected in 1325, in the time of Muhammad Shah ; the pillars in the interior were taken from desecrated Jain temples, and, though arranged without much attention to architectural effect, give a picturesque appearance. Many ruins still attest the former wealth of Cambay. It is mentioned, under the name of Cambaet, as a place of great trade by Marco Polo {chr. 1293), and by his countryman and contemporary Marino Sanudo, as one of the two great trading ports of India (Cambeth).
The commercial decline of this once flourishing mart is due in great measure to the silting-up of the gulf, and to the ' bore ' or rushing tide in the north of the gulf and at the entrances of the Mahi and Sabarmati rivers. High spring-tides rise and fall as much as 33 feet, and the tide runs at a velocity of from 6 to 7 knots an hour. In ordinary springs the rise and fall is 25 feet, and the current 4^ to 6 knots. Great damage is thus frequently caused to shipping, the more so as the average depth of the channel is only from 4 to 6 fathoms ; and the hazard is greatly increased by the constantly shifting shoals, caused by the frequent inundation of the rivers.
Cambay is celebrated for the manufacture of agate, carnelian, and onyx ornaments. The carnelians come chiefly from mines in the vicinity of Ratanpur, in the State of Rajplpla, Rewa Kantha Agency. The preparation of the stones was thus described in 1821 by Mr. J. Willoughby, Assistant to the Resident at Baroda : — 'The Bhils, who are the miners, commence their operations about September and leave off in April, when they commence burning the carnelians. The operation of burning is performed by digging a hole, one yard square, in which are placed earthen pots filled with the carnelians, which, to facilitate the process, have for some time previous been exposed to the sun. The. bottoms of the pots are taken out, and a layer of about 6 or 7 inches of cow or goat-dung, strewed above and below them, is set on fire, which, when consumed, has rendered the stones ready for the Cambay merchants.'
The three principal colours of the carnelians are red, white, and yellow, the first of which is considered the most valuable. The town is administered as a municipality, with an average income of about Rs. 7,000 (chiefly derived from octroi), which is augmented by a contribution from the State revenues. The public institutions include an experimental weaving-school, two hospitals, a high school, and the Lord Reay public library,
