Mathura A Gazetteer-11
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MATHURA A GAZETTEER,
edited and compiled by, D.L. DRAKE-BROCKMAN [1911]
DIRECTORY
GIROI, Tahsil CHHATA
A large agricultural village lying in 27° 45' N. and 77° 23' E., on the western border of the district, nine miles west of Chhata and 27 miles north-west of Muttra. In 1901 the village had a population of 2,186 persons, of whom 2,121 were Hindus and 65 were Musalmans, Jats being the predominant Hindu caste. The total area of the village is 3,013 acres and it is assessed to a revenue demand of Rs. 5,724. The zamindwrs are Jats and of the same pal as those of the adjoining village of Nandgaon, in eoncert with whom they annually celebrate the Phul Dol on the banks of a pond called Gendokhar Kund, on the thirteenth day of the light half of Phagun. The place contains a primary school, and is also known as Gindoh or Gandwa.
GOBARDHAN, Tahsil MUTTRA
Gobardhan is situated sixteen miles from Muttra, on the metalled road to Dig in Bharatpur, in 27° 30'N. and 77°28E. Accord ing to the literal meaning of the Sanskrit compound, Gobardhan is "the nurse of cattle." It is a famous place of Hindu pilgrimage, and occupies a recess in a narrow sandstone hill some four or five miles in length. This hill has an average elevation of one hundred feet above the plain, and is ordinarily styled by the Hindus the Giriraj or royal hill, but in the earlier literature is more frequently designated the Annakut. It is the hill which Krishna is fabled to have held aloft on the tip of his finger for seven days and nights to cover the people of Braj from the storms poured down upon them by Indra. The ridge attains its greatest elevation towards the south between the villages of Jatipura and Anyaur. Here, on the summit, was an ancient temple founded in the year 1520 A.D. by the famous Valla bhacharya of Gokul and dedicated to Srinath. In anticipation of one of Aurangzeb's raids the image of the god was removed to Nathdwara in Udaipur territory and has remained there ever since, while the temple on the Giriraj has fallen into ruins. In the little village of Jatipura, at the foot of the hill, there are several temples, one of which, dedicated to Gokul Nath, has considerable local celebrity. It is the annual scene of two religious solemnities both celebrated on the day after the Dip-dan at Gobardhan. The first is the adoration of the sacred hill called the Giriraj Puja and the second the Annakut, or commemoration of Krishna's sacrifice. The dusty circular road which winds around the base of the hill has a length of seven Kos, or about twelve miles, and pious pilgrims may frequently be seen measuring their length along it the whole way round. This ceremony, called Dandanati pari-karama, occupies from a week to a fortnight, and is often performed vicariously for the wealthy by the Brahmans of the place.
The town clusters round the margin of a very large irregu larly shaped masonry tank called the Manasi Gangs which, as the name denotes, is supposed to have been called into existence by the operation of the divine will. At one end its boundary is formed by the jutting crags of the sacred rock; on all the other sides the water is approached by long flights of steps. It is said to have been first made into its present shape by Raja Man Singh of Jaipur in the reign of Akbar; but it has been since repeatedly repaired at great cost by successive Rajas of Bharatpur. During half the year it is almost dry;; but at the annual illumination (Dip-dan), which occurs at the festival of the Diwali in November, a fine broad sheet of water reflects the light of the innumerable lamps ranged tier above tier along the ghats and adjacent buildings by the pilgrims who then throng the town. The metalled road from Muttra to Dig passes through a break in the hill. This break is called Dan-ghat from the tradition that it was there that Krishna stationed himself to intercept the milk maids (gopis) and to levy a toll (dan) on the milk they were bringing in
Close to the Manasi Gangs is the famous temple of Harideva, erected during the reign of Akbar by Raja Bhagwan Das of Ambar on a site long previously occupied by a succession of humbler shrines. It consists of a nave sixty-eight feet in length and twenty feet broad, leading to a choir twenty feet square, with a sacrarium of about the same dimensions beyond. The con struction is extremely massive, and the exterior is still imposing though the two towers which originally crowned the choir and sacrarium were long ago levelled with the roof of the nave. The material employed throughout the superstructure is red sandstone from the Bharatpur quarries.
On the opposite side of the Manasi Ganga are two stately cenotaphs or chhattris to the memory of Randhir Singh and Baladeva Singh, Rajas of Bharatpur. Both are of similar design, but from an architectural point of view they are not of any great merit. In that which commemorates Baladeva Singh, who died in 1825, the British army figures conspicuously in the paintings on the ceilings of the pavilions. Raja Randhir Singh, who is commemorated by the companion monument, was the elder brother and predecessor of Baladeva Singh, and died in 1823. A mile or so from the town, on the borders of the village of Radhakund, is a much more magnificent architectural group erected by Jawahir Singh, in honour of his father Suraj Mal, the founder of the family. The principal chhattri, which is fifty-seven feet square, is of the same style as those already noticed. The Raja's monument is flanked on either side by one of smaller dimensions, commemorating his two queens, Hansiya and Kishori; while attached to Rani Hansiya's monument is a smaller one in commemoration of a faithful attendant. Behind is an extensive garden, and in front, at the foot of the terrace on which the chhattris stand, is an artificial lake called the Kusum Sarovar, 460 feet square. On the north side some progress had been made in the erection of a chhattri, for Jawahir Singh, when the work was interrupted by a Muhammadan in-road and never renewed. On the same side the ghats of the lake are partly in ruins, and it is said were reduced to this condition, a very few years after their completion, by Gosain Himmat Bahadur,[१]. who carried away the materials to Brinda ban, to be used in the construction of a ghat which still com memorates his name there. A third cenotaph is being con structed in memory of Raja Jaswant Singh.
Gobardhan has been administered under Act XX. of 1856 since the year 1859. The income, which is raised by an assess ment according to circumstances and is usually known as the house-tax, averages some Rs. 2,635 yearly: it is expended in maintaining a small force of police for watch and ward, a staff of sweepers for conservancy and in simple works of improve ment to the town. The population of the town has considerably increased of late years: in 1881 it numbered 4,944 persons: by 1891 this figure had risen to 5,447, and at the last enumer ation in 1901 the inhabitants amounted to 6,738 souls. Classified according to religions there were 6,276 Hindus, 441 Musalmans and 21 others.
After the cession by Sindhia, in 1803, Gobardhan and a considerable number of villages were granted free of assessment to Kunwar Lachhman Singh, youngest son of Raja Ranjit Singh of Bharatpur, but on his death in 1826 they were annexed by the Government to the district of Agra. For many years the Rajas of Bbaratpur repeatedly solicited the Government to cede the place to them in exchange for other territory of equal value, as it contained so many memorials of their ancestors, but the requests were not granted. The town contains a police station, post-office, cattle-pound and lower primary school attended by some 80 boys. Market is held on Saturdays.The Village Sanitation Act (U. P. Act II of 1892) is in force in the town.
GOKUL, Tahsil MAHABAN
The town of Gokul lies in the west of tahsil Mahaban on the banks of the Jumna River in 27°27'N. and 77°44' E. It is only one mile from Mahaban and four miles south-east of Muttra, and is connected both with the railway bridge over the river opposite Muttra and the bridge-of-boats on the Muttra-Mahaban road by a metalled road. Though bearing a name of many legendary associations, it is in reality only the modern river-side suburb of the inland town of Mahaban. All the traditional sites of Krishna's adventures, though described in the Puranas as being at Gokul, are shown at Mahaban. However, in consequence of its retaining the ancient name, the modern suburb is considered much the more sacred place of the two. Its modern celebrity is derived from the great heiresearch Vallabhacharya, of whom some account has been given in Chapter III; and it is much frequented by pilgrims from the Bombay side, where the doctrines of the Vallabhacharya sect have been very widely propagated. From the opposite side of the river Gokul has a very picturesque appearance, but a nearer view shows its tortuous streets to be mean and crowded in spite of the fact that a large number of the buildings are of masonry. None of the temples, of which the number is very large, present a very imposing appearance. The three oldest, dedicated respectively to Gokul Nath, Madan Mohan and Bithal Nath, are ascribed to the year 1511 A.D. The most notable of the remainder are those of Dwarka Nath, dating from 1546 A.D.; of Balkrishn, from 1636 A.D.; and the two shrines erected in honour of Mahadeva by Bijai Singh, Raja of Jodh pur, in 1602. The principal melas are the Januma Ashtami in Bhadon and the Annakut on the day after the new moon of Kartik. The Trinavart Mela is also held on the fourth day of the dark half of Kartik, when paper figures of the demon are first paraded and then torn to pieces. The prin cipal gate of the town is that called the Gandipura darwaza: it is of stone with two corner turrets, but has never been com pletely finished. From it a road runs down to Gandipura on the bank of the river, where there is a baoli and a large house built by one Manohar Lal, a Bhattia. Below it is the Ballabh ghat, with Koila on the opposite bank of the stream. This road is much frequented by pilgrims, and a ferry plies over the river. The only other noteworthy ornament of the town is a large masonry tank constructed about 1850 by one Chunni Seth.
Gokul has been administered under Act XX of 1856 since the year 1859. The annual income of the town is some Rs. 1,525, which is expended on watch and ward, conservancy and simple improvements. The town is not a very clean one, its condition being attributed to the numerous cattle which are stalled in it every night and render it in reality what the name denotes, a cowpen (gokul). There is a small school in the town, and a combined post and telegraph office. The population appears to have somewhat decreased of late years: in 1881 it numbered 4,012 persons; this rose to 4,199 in 1891, but at the last enumeration in 1901, there were only 3,880 persons in the town, of whom 1,910 were females. Of the whole population 3,803 were Hindus and the remaining 77 were Musalmans. One small speciality of the place is the manufacture of silver toys and ornaments: these have already been described in Chapter II.The Village Sanitation Act (U. P. Act II of 1892) is in force in the town.
GUTAHRA, Tahsil SADABAD
This large village is situated in the south-east of the district, close to the Agra border, in 27°23'N. and 78°8'E. It lies six miles south-east from Sadabad and thirty-two miles from the dis trict headquarters. The total area of the village is 2,527 acres, and the revenue demand is Rs. 6,900. The place was founded by one Sheoraj, a Gahlot Rajput from Chitor, who ejected the Ahirs then in possession. The population has increased from 1,985 persons in 1881 to 2,595 persons in 1901; and the Hindu popu lation numbers 2,372 souls as against 223 Muhammadans. Rajputs still own a portion of the estate, but much of it has passed to Brahmans, Ahirs and Banias. Chamars are the predominant Hindu caste. The place contains an aided school and is also known by the name of Khera Ali Saiyid.
References
- ↑ He was a warlike adventurer who carved out a large estate for himself in Bundelkhand ,vide Banda Gazetteer supra, chapterV.,p.176