Jhalrapatan 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.
Jhalrapatan Town
locally called Patan
Head-quarters of the Patan tahsil and the commercial capital of the State of Jhalawar, Rajputana, situated in 24 degree 32' N. and 76 degree 10' E., at the foot of a low range of hills and on the left bank of a stream known as the Chandra- bhaga. Population (1901), 7,955. Several modes of deriving the name are current. Some say the word means the J city of bells,' and that the old town was so called because it contained 108 temples with bells ; others that it is the ' city ' (patan) of J springs ' (Jhalra), the latter abounding in the rivulet above mentioned; while others again say that the word jhalra refers to the Rajput clan (Jhala), to which the founder of the new town belonged. The town possesses a combined post and telegraph office, a small lock-up for prisoners sentenced to short terms, a vernacular school attended by about 57 boys, and a dispensary for out-patients.
A little to the south of the present town there formerly existed a city called Chandravati, said to have been built by Raja Chandra Sena of Malwa, who, according to Abul Fazl, was the immediate successor of the famous Vikramaditya. General Cunningham visited the site in 1864-5, and wrote: —
'Of its antiquity there can be no doubt, as I obtained several specimens of old cast copper coins without legends, besides a few of the still more ancient square pieces of silver which probably range as high as from 500 to 1000 b. c. These coins are, perhaps, sufficient to show that the place was occupied long before the time of Chandra Sena ; but as none of the existing ruins would appear to be older than the sixth or seventh century a.d., it is not improbable that the city may have been refounded by Chandra Sena, and named after himself Chandravati. I think it nearly certain that it must have been the capital of Ptolemy's district of Sandrabatis, and, if so, the tradition which assigns its foundation to the beginning of the Christian era would seem to be correct.'
This ancient city is said to have been destroyed, and its temples despoiled, in the time of Aurangzeb, and the principal remains are now clustered together on the northern bank of the Chandrabhaga stream. The largest and the earliest of these is the celebrated lingatn temple of Sitaleswar Mahadeva, which Mr. Fergusson described as ' the most elegant specimen of columnar architecture ' that he had seen in India, an opinion fully concurred in by General Cunningham. The date of this temple was put by them at about a. d. 600. It was just to the north of these remains that Zalim Singh, the famous minister of Kotah, founded the present town in 1796, including within its limits the temple of Sat Saheli (or ' seven damsels ') and a Jain temple which formerly belonged to the old city. To encourage inhabitants, Zalim Singh is said to have placed a large stone tablet in the centre of the chief bazar, on which was engraved a promise that new settlers would be excused the payment of customs dues, and would be fined no more than Rs. 1-4-0 for whatever crime convicted These privileges were annulled in 1850, when the Kamdar (minister) of Maharaj Rana Prithwi Singh had the tablet removed, and thrown into a tank, whence it was dug out about 1876.
According to Tod, the town was placed under municipal government at its foundation in 1796, but the fact is not mentioned on the stone tablet above referred to. The present municipal committee was formed about 1876, and attends to the lighting and sanitation of the place, besides disposing of petty cases relating to easements. The income and expenditure are respectively about Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 2,000 yearly, the difference being provided by the State. The town is well and compactly built, and is surrounded on all sides save the west by a substantial masonry wall with circular bastions. The streets are wide and regular, intersecting each other at right angles, and contain many large and handsome buildings. On the west is a lake formed by a solid masonry dam, about two-thirds of a mile long, on which stand sundry temples and buildings, and the lands in the neighbourhood and the well-shaded gardens within and around the town walls are irrigated by means of a canal about 2 miles long.
[J. Tod, Rajasthan, vol. ii ; J. Fergusson, Picturesque illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindustan and History of Indian and Eas- tern Architecture ; and the Archaeological Survey of Northern India, vols, ii and xxiii.]
