Mathura A Gazetteer-15
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MATHURA A GAZETTEER,
edited and compiled by, D.L. DRAKE-BROCKMAN [1911]
DIRECTORY
KAMAI, Tahsil CHHATA
This large village lies about four miles due west of Sahar, at a distance of ninteen miles from Muttra, in 27°38,N. and 77°26'E. It has a total area of 4,108 acres, assessed to a revenue demand of Rs. 5,000, and the population in 1901 numbered 2,612 persons, of whom 2,526 were Hindus, 80 Muhammadan and six of other religions. The village is owned by a large community of Jadon Rajputs, and is one of the stations in the Banjatra. The Ras Lila is celebrated here on the sixth day of the light half of Bhadon and the Phul Dol fair is kept on the fifth day of the dark half of Chait. The village contains a primary school, four small temples and three sacred ponds called Hari-kund, Baladeva kand and Piri-pokhar.
KAMAR, Tahsil CHHATA
The town of Kamar lies in 27°49N. and 77°21'E., at a distance of thirty-three miles from Muttra and six miles from Kosi. The village has an area of 3,544 acres, and the town, though still a considerable place with a large trade in cotton; was of much greater importance during the early part of the 18th century, when Thakur Badan Singh, the father of Raja Suraj Mal, married a daughter of one of the resident families. A walled garden outside the town contains some monuments of the lady's kinsmen, and in connection with it is a large masonry tank supplied with water brought by aqueducts from the surrounding rakhya or woodland. This is more than a thousand acres in extent, and according to the village computation is three kos long, including the village which occupies the centre. At a little distance is a lake with unfinished stone ghats, the work of Raja Suraj Mal; this is called Durvasakund. A temple of Suraj Mal's foundation, dedicated to Madan Mohan, is specially affected by all the jats of the Bahinwar pal, who are accounted its chelas or disciples, and assemble here to the number of 4,000 on the second day of the dark fortnight of Chait to celebrate the Phut Dol mela. In the town are several large brick mansions built by Chaudhris Jaswant Singh and Sita Ram, connections of Raja Suraj mal: but they are all in ruins.
Kamar was formerly administered under Act XX of 1856, but the provisions of the Act were withdrawn before 1891. In 1881 the town had a population of 3,771 persons: this fell to 3,458 in 1901. Of the whole number 3,262 were Hindus, 159 were Musalmans and 37 persons were of other religions. Jats are the predominant Hindu caste, and there are some Jains resi dent in the place. It contains a school, and a weekly market is held on Mondays. Kamar is owned for the most part by a large community of Jats, and is assessed to a revenue demand of Rs. 4,679.
KANJAULI, Tahsil SADABAD
A large agricultural village, eight miles south of Sadabad and thirty-two miles from Muttra via the metalled road and Sadabad. The village lies about two miles west of the provincial road from Sadabad to Agra, in 27°20'N. and 78°2'E. The area of the village is 2,007 acres and it is assessed to a revenue demand of Rs. 6,104, the proprietors being Jats. The population in 1881 was 2,644 persons, but in 1901 the number had increased to 3,193, of whom 3,004 were Hindus and 189 were Musalmans. The village contains a primary school, but is otherwise a place of no importance.
KARAB, Tahsil MAHABAN
Karab lies on the metalled road from Raya to Baldeo in 27°28'N. and 77°48'E., at a distance of six miles from Mahaban and Raya, and fourteen miles from Muttra city via Raya. The village has an area of 3,121 acres and is assessed to a demand of Rs. 7,382. The original owners were Jats of the Hag got, but much of the property has passed into the hands of Brahmans, now represented by Bohra Gajadhar Singh. The village contains a primary school, and the market, which is held every Thursday, is the largest in the district for the sale of leather. The population in 1901 numbered 2,689 souls, of whom 2,577 were Hindus, 87 Muhammadans and 25 of other religions, Chamars being the numerically strongest Hindu caste.
KARAHRI, Tahsil MAT
This village is situated in the centre of the tahsil, 27°44N and 77°47'E., at a distance of eight miles from Mat and eighteen miles from the city of Muttra. The area of the village is 2,724 acres and its revenue Rs. 6,453; while its population in 1901 was 3,096 souls, an increase of 275 persons over the figure of 1881. Of the whole number 2,685 were Hindus, 317 were Musalmans and 94 were of other religions, chiefly Aryas; and the predomi nant Hindu caste was that of Chamars. The zamindars were once Dhakara Rajputs; but now most of the area has passed to Musalmans of Salimpur in Aligarh, Jais Rajputs, Jats and Banias. There are an old sarai, a ruined indigo factory, two; small temples and a primary school in the village; and markets are held in it every Tuesday and Friday, the latter day being-confined to the sale of cattle. A large orchard of mango, jamun, amla, labera and other trees forms one of the pleasantest camp ing-grounds in the tahsil.
KHAIRA, Tahsil CHHATA
This large village is situated in 27°42'N. and 77°27'E., four miles west-south-west from Chhata and twenty miles north-west from Muttra city. The name is said to be derived from khadira ban, where there is a pond called Krishna-kund, the scene of an annual fair. It has two masonry ghats and the same Raja of Burdwan, who constructed the Pan Sarovar at Nandgaon, had commenced facing the whole of it with stone, but the work was stopped almost at the beginning by his death. On its margin is a temple of Baladeva with a handsome chhatri in memory of one Rup Ram, Bohra, built about 1845 by his widow. Another temple with the title of Gopinath is said to have been founded by the famous Todar Mal of Akbar's time. There are three other temples called respectively Madan Mohan, Darsan Bihari and Maha Prabhu, and two small lakes bearing the names of Bhawani and Chinta-Khori. In 1881 Khaira had a popu lation of 2,629 souls, but in 1901 the number had risen to 3,253, of whom 3,092 were Hindus, 139 Muhammadans and 22 of other religions, chiefly Jains. The area of the village is 4,153 acres and the revenue demand on it amounts to Rs. 7,200, the zamindars as well as the numerically strongest Hindu caste being Ahiwasis. Thera is a primary school in the place, and market is held every Saturday.
KOSI, Tahsil CHHATA
Kosi is the largest town in the Chhata tahsil and is situated in 27°48'N. and 77°26,E. on the Agra-Dehli road at a distance of twenty-eight miles from Muttra. The name is popularly supposed to be a corruption of kusasthali, another name for Dwarka. In 4confirmation of this belief it is pointed out that there are in Kosi places named Ratnakar Kund, Maya Kund, Bisakha Kund and Gomati Kund, just as there are at Dwarka.
The town lies in a low situation and is surrounded by hollows full of water. The Agra canal runs at a short distance from the site and the whole country round about is saturated with water. For many years it was found impossible to drain the place because there was no proper outfall, a drain leading into the canal being quite inadequate for the purpose. Conse quently Kosi was very unhealthy, the death-rate from fever being particularly high, In 1903-4, however, the Kosi arterial drain was constructed by the Irrigation department, and at the same time the municipal board made a branch drain to join it: this has had the effect of reducing the water level in the hollows round the town. In the centre stands a large sarai, covering nine and a half bighas of land, with high embattled walls, corner kiosks and two arched gateways, all of stone. This is ascribed to Khwaja Itibar Khan, governor of Dehli in the reign of the emperor Akbar. The principal bazar lies between the two gateways. A large masonry tank, of nearly equal area with the sarai, dates from the same time, and is called the Ratnakar Kund, or more commonly the pakka talao. Three other tanks bear the names of Maha-kund Bisakha-kund and Gomati-kund: the last, near which the fair of the Phul Dol is held on the second of the dark fortnight of Chait, is accounted the most sacred and is certainly the prettiest spot in the town. The pond is of considerable size, but of very irregular shape and has a large island in the centre. There are two or three masonry ghats, constructed by wealthy traders of the town, and on all three sides of it there are numbers of small shrines and temples. A little beyond the site on the northern side, close to the canal and not far from the idgah is a tirath or place of pilgrimage called Mabhai, with a masonry tank and temple.
Kosi contains a first-class police station, a combined post and telegraph office, second-class branch dispensary and primary school. There is also a municipal bungalow available as a rest-house. The town was constituted a municipality in 1866, and has always been a flourishing market town. Market is usually held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The chief articles of traffic are food grains, cotton, cloth, cattle and ghi. As a cattle-mart Kosi is well known in this portion of India: animals come from all parts, especially the Punjab, and some 30,000 are annually bought and sold. The nakh-khas or cattle-market is of large extent and supplied with every convenience—a fine masonry well, long ranges of feeding troughs and so forth. The trade in cotton is extensive; and there are six cotton ginning mills and presses employing between them some 580 hands. The popula tion of the town has considerably decreased since 1872: in that year the inhabitants numbered 12,770 persons. In 1881 the number had fallen to 11,231, and by 1891 there was a further decrease to 8,404. At the last enumeration in 1901 the popula tion was returned at 9,565 souls of whom 4,577 were women. Classified according to religions there were 5,496 Hindus, 3,552 Musalmans, 470 Jains, seven Christians and 40 others of un speefied religion. The Jains, or Saraogis as they are generally called, are an important community in the town. They have heres three temples, dedicated respectively to Padma Prabhu, Nem Nath and Arishtanemi. A festival is held at the temple of Nem Nath on the day after the full moon of Bhadon when water is brought for the ablution of the idol from a well in a garden at some distance. No processional or other displays however are permitted.
On May 31st, 1857, the rebels on their march to Dehli stopped at Kosi and, after burning down the customs bungalow and pillaging the police station, plundered the tahsil of the small sum of Rs. 150, which was all that they found there. The records were scattered to the winds but were to a great extent subsequently recovered. The towns-people and the inhabitants of the adjoining villages remained well affected and gave what help they could in maintaining order. As a reward for their good behaviour one year's revenue was remitted and a grant of Rs 50 was made to each lumbardar. Kosi has now a station called after it on the Agra-Dehli Chord section of the Great Indian Peninsula railway. This has fostered the direct trade with Bombay, to which place most of the cotton is exported.
KOTBAN, Tahsil CHHATA
Kotban lies at a distance of thirty-two miles from Muttra and four miles from Kosi, close to the Dehli road, in 26°51'N. and 77°25'E. The village has a total area of 2,943 acres and the zamindars are for the most part Jats, who hold it in bhaiyachara tenure, paying a revenue demand of Rs. 4,783. The village contains an aided school and a population of 2,175 persons, of whom 2,074 are Hindus and 101 Muhammadans. Kotban is the northern limit of the Banjatra. A pond bears the name of Sital-kund, and there is a temple of Sita Ram, also two large brick houses and a masonry tank constructed by Chaudhri Sita Ram, a con nection of the Rajas of Bharatpur.
KURSANDA, Tahsil SADABAD
Kursanda is rather a group of villages than a single village, which lie close to the Aligarh-Agra metalled road, three miles south of Sadabad and twenty-three miles east of Muttra, in 27°24'N. and 78°2'E. The village was first settled by a Jat of the Hags got Puran Chand, who bestowed part of the land on his family priest, Chandu Pande. Their descendants still hold the bulk of the village, which has an area of 4,541 acres and is assessed to a revenue demand of Rs. 15,994. Kursanda was the home of the outlaw Deo Karan, who plundered Sadabad in the Mutiny and was subsequently, along with Zalim of the same village, hanged for rebellion. The village contains a primary school and is an old market town of some importance, bazar days being Sundays and Thursdays. The population of the combined hamlets amounted to 5,625 souls in 1881, and in 1901 the number of the inhabitants had risen to 6,663, of whom 6,193 were Hindus, 382 Muhammadans and 88 of other religions, chiefly Jains. Jats are the numerically strongest Hindu caste.