Raipur 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.
Raipur Town
Head-quarters of the Chhattisgarh Division and of VOL. xxi. E the District of the same name, Central Provinces, situated in 21 14' N. and 81 39' E., on the Bengal-Nagpur Railway, 513 miles from Calcutta and 188 miles from Nagpur, in an open plain about 4 miles from the Kharun river. Raipur is the junction for the branch narrow- gauge line to Rajim and Dhamtarl. It is the sixth largest town in the Province, and had a population in 1901 of 32,114 persons, the increase during the decade having been 35 per cent. The population at previous enumerations was (1872) 19,119, (1881) 24,946, and (1891) 2 3i758. In 1901 there were 25,492 Hindus, 5,302 Muhammadans, and 592 Christians, of whom 88 were Europeans or Eurasians.
Raipur was made the head-quarters of Chhattisgarh in 1818 The town is believed to have existed since the ninth century, the old site being to the south-west of the present one and extending to the river The most ancient building is the fort, said to have been constructed in 1460, on two sides of which are large tanks, while within it are numerous temples of comparatively little interest. The unfinished Dudhadan temple is probably unrivalled as an instance of modern elaborate carving in the Central Provinces, but it is disfigured by sculpture of the most indecent type. A number of fine tanks have been constructed. Raipur is the head-quarters of the Commissioner and Divisional Judge, Chhattisgarh Division, the Political Agent of the Chhattisgarh Feudatory States, an Inspector of Schools, a Superin- tendent of Post Offices, and Executive and Irrigation Engineers. It contains one of the three Central jails in the Province. Raipur was created a municipality in 1867. The municipal receipts during the decade ending 1901 averaged Rs. 1,22,000. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 99,000, chiefly derived from octroi (Rs. 50,000) and water rate, while conservancy and water-supply constitute the principal items of expenditure, which amounted to Rs. 89,000. Half a bat- talion of native infantry was stationed here until 1902.
The town is
supplied with water from the Kharun river by the Balram Das water-
works, which were opened in 1892 and cost 3*38 lakhs, 2 lakhs being
contributed by Raja Balram Das of Raj-Nandgaon, after whom they
are named. Water is drawn from an infiltration gallery in the river,
and pumped into a service reservoir m the town 120 feet above the
level of the gallery. The maintenance charges amount to Rs. 1 7,000,
of which Rs. 13,000 is realized from a water rate. Raipur is the
leading commercial town of Chhattisgarh, having supplanted Raj-
Nandgaon, which for many years occupied that position.
The local handicrafts include brass-working, lacquering on wood, cloth-weaving, and the manufacture of gold and silver ornaments. In the Central jail cotton cloth is woven and mats are made from aloe fibre. A com- bined oil-mill and cotton-ginning factory has been opened, which pressed oil to the value of Rs, 90,000 in 1904. There are two printing presses, using English, Hindi, Urdu, and Oriya types. Among the local institutions are a museum constructed in 1875, a leper asylum supported by private contributions, and an enclosed market-place. The educational and medical institutions comprise a high school with an average attendance of 98 pupils, and a Rajkumar College for the sons of Feudatory chiefs and landholders, besides several other schools, four dispensaries, and a veterinary dispensary.
