Mukandwar
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.
Mukandwar
(or Mukandara). — Village in the Chechat tahsll of the State of Kotah, Rajputana, situated in 24° 49' N. and 76° E., in the hills of the same name, about ^,2 miles south-by-south-east of Kotah city and about So north-east of Nimach. I'he range is here pierced by a pass, about 1,500 feet above the sea, which is of great importance as being the only defile practicable for wheeled traffic for a consider- able distance between the Chambal and Kali Sindh rivers. This pass is called Mukandwara, the gate or portal of Mukand,' after Mukand Singh, who was the second chief of Kotah, and built the gates of the defile as well as a palace to his favourite mistress, Abll Mini, on the slope of the hill. The pass has been the scene of many obstinately contested battles between the KhTchi and the Hara Rajputs, and is famous as the route of Colonel Monson's retreat before Jaswant Rao Holkar in July, 1804.
Some distance up the valley are the fragments of the chaor'i or hall of Bhim. Fergusson thought the building might be as old as a.d. 450, or even older, but only the columnar part of the mandap or portico remained and no inscription could be found. The lintels and consoles are elaborately carved all over with strange animal forms and floral scrolls ; and the pillars, though scarcely ten feet in height, look larger and nobler than many of twice their dimensions.
[J. Tod, Rajasthaii, vol. ii ; J. Fergusson, Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture and History of Indian and Eastern Architecture ; also, Archaeological Survey of Xorthern India, vol. xxiii.]
