Mathura A Gazetteer-20
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MATHURA A GAZETTEER,
edited and compiled by, D.L. DRAKE-BROCKMAN [1911]
DIRECTORY
RADHAKUND, Tahsil MUTTRA.
Radhakuud is situated 16 miles west of Muttra in 27°32'N. and 77°28'E. It is the next village to Gobardhan, and the Kusum Sarovar Lake and the cenotaph of Suraj Mal, described in connection with Gobardhan, lie on the borders of the village. Radha-kund is occasionally called Sri-kund (i.e., Holy-well) and has grown up on the margin of the sacred pond from which the locality derives its name. It is said when Krishna had slain the demon Arishta, who had ravaged the country in the form of a bull, he felt that some guilt attached to him in consequence of the deed, since everything with the form and figure of a cow should be accounted sacred. So he summoned to the spot all the sacred streams of Braj and bade them pour their holy waters into two deep reservoirs prepared for the occasion. There he bathed and was washed clean of the pollution he had incurred. Every year, it is believed, the holy spirits reassemble at the scene of this mystic baptism on the eighth day of the dark fortnight of Kartik. A large fair is held on the day, and the devout pilgrim who plunges beneath the water of these tanks acquires as much religious merit as if he had made a pilgrimage to each of the sacred places. The two lakes, called respectively Krishan-kund and Radha-kund after Krishna and his favourite mistress, are faced on all sides with stone ghats, and only parted from each other by a broad terrace of the same material. This was the work of Babu Krishan Chandra Sen, better known as the Lala Baba, who completed the work in 1817 A.D., at the cost of a lakh of rupees. The town which has grown up in the vicinity is crowded with temples and rest-houses, but none of them are of any antiquity or special architectural merit. The population of Radha-kund in 1901 numbered 2,776 souls, of whom 2,661 were Hindus and 114 Musalmans. The area of the village is 2,819 acres and the revenue demand is Rs. 3,905, the zamindars being the Seth's temple at Brindaban and the Raja of Awa. There is a small school in the village, and a post-office. _
Kesarjit Singh alias Tambu Singh and Gopal Singh, political detenus of the Manipur State reside here under the surveillance of the police at Gobardhan.
RAL, Tahsil MUTTRA.
The village of Ral is situated nine miles north-west of Muttra on the banks of the Sahar canal distributary, in 27°34'N. and 77°35'E. It is connected by an unmetalled road both with Jait and Aring. Ral is said to derive its name from having been the scene of one of Krishna's many battles (rar), and it has a total area of 5,132 acres. The original proprietors were Rajputs, who sold their rights to Gosain Kesonand, the priest of the Sringarbat temple at Brindaban, from whom the estate was purchased by Raja Prithvi Singh of Awa. It is now owned by Raja Balwant Singh of Awa at a revenue demand of Rs. 5,467. The population of Ral has increased from 2,033, the number in 1881, to 2,489 in 1901, Hindus accounting for 2,434 of the total and the remainder being Musalmans. The numerically strongest Hindu caste is still that of Rajputs, and the principal resident in the place was formerly Chaudhri Daulat Singh, a descendant of the old family who owned the village. Under the Marathas the family is said to have enjoyed the chaudhrayat of 307 villages, and at the time of the Mutiny Daulat Singh was the only honorary magistrate in the district. His good services then were rewarded by a donation of Rs. 7,000 and a grant of 43 villages; but the latter were resumed six months later. In a garden outside the town are three chhatris in honour of his ancestors, one of whom, Debi Singh by name, built the large mud fort which still exists. Ral contains a cattle-pound and a primary school, and market is held every Monday. There are two extensive tracts of woodland in the village covering about 900 bighas; and half-way between Ral and Bathri is a deserted site called Basra Khera, held in much honour by the Ahivasis, who bring their children to it when their hair is to be cut for the first time. There are fragments of a sculptured doorway and a curious group of three seated female figures, each with a child at her feet, in her lap and in her arms.
RASULPUR, Tahsil MUTTRA.
Rasulpur is situated close to the Bharatpur border, on the metalled road from Muttra to Bharatpur, in 27°20'N. and 77°35'E. It is distant 14 miles from the district headquarters. The village is owned by a community of Jats, who are the predominant Hindu caste in it, has a total area of 1,383 acres, and is assessed to a demand of Rs. 1,702. The population, however, only numbers 718 persons, 26 of these being Musalmans, and the village is only noticeable as being the site of a pound and post-office. The police station was abolished in 1909. There is a masonry tank and a dharmsala in the village and on the village hill there is an idgah, the pillars of which are the spoil of an ancient Hindu temple which is said to have stood a mile away. They resemble the pillars in the Chhatthi Palna at Mahaban and are probably of the same date.
RAYA, Tahsil MAHABAN.
The town of Raya is situated on the metalled road to Hathras, in 27°33'N. and 77°48'E. It is distant eight miles both from Muttra and Mahaban; and has a station on the Cawnpore-Achnera railway. It derives its name from one Rae Sen who is regarded as the ancestor of all the Jats of the Godha pal or clan. There is an old mud fort ascribed originally to one Jamsher Beg, but rebuilt in the time of Thakur Daya Ram of Hathras. The town has no arable land of its own but is merely a township, the most prominent residents of which are a Bania family, whose masonry houses are the most conspicuous buildings in the place. Raya has been administered under Act XX of 1856 since the year 1859. The average income under the chaukidari assessment is Rs. 765 which is expended in the maintenance of extra police, a small conservancy staff and in works of improvement in the town. Section 34 of the Police Act (V of 1861) is also in force. Rays is a busy market town, whose trade has been fostered by the railway; and it contains a police station, pound, post-office and a middle vernacular school with a primary branch. Market is held on Mondays and Fridays. The population of the place was 2,752 persons in 1881: this figure rose to 3,179 in 1891, but fell to 2,831 in 1901. Of this number 2,016 were Hindus and 815 were Musalmans.
The Mat branch of the canal passes about a mile to the west of the town, and there is an inspection bungalow situated on it, close to the main road.
The Village Sanitation Act (U. P. Act II of 1892) is in force in the town.