Banganga or Utangan
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, units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts.Many units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Banganga or Utangan
A river of Northern India, rising in Jaipur territory near Bairat (27 24' N. and 76 10' E.). It flows, generally in an easterly direction, through the States of Jaipur, Bharat- pur, and Dholpur, and the District of Agra in the United Provinces, and after a course of about 235 miles joins the Jumna 10 miles east of Fatehabad in Agra District.
The word Banganga (Vanaganga) means literally • arrow river.' The story goes that the five Pandava brothers, on going into hiding at Bairat (Vairata), concealed their sacred weapons in a tree, and swore that before using them again they would purify them by washing them in the Ganges. One of the brothers, Arjun, had occasion to use his weapons against the Kurus. The Ganges being far off, he shot an arrow into the ground, and immediately a spring of the sacred Ganges water issued, which became the source of the Banganga.
Between 1848 and 1856 small irrigation works were made in Agra District and in Bharatpur State ; but these had the effect of diverting the course of the Banganga, and did so much damage that in 1864 the works in Agra were totally closed, and in 1869 operations were under- taken in Bharatpur to bring back the river to its old course. Near the village of Gopalgarh in the Ramgarh hills, about 25 miles below the source, the waters of the river are impounded by a dam 80 feet in height to form the Ramgarh reservoir, the most important irrigation work in the Jaipur State.
This lake when full covers an area of six square miles, and can under exceptional circumstances contain 3,000 million cubic feet of water; but ordinarily about half this quantity, or sufficient to irrigate more than 13,000 acres, is impounded. The project is practically complete and has cost nearly five lakhs of rupees. Some smaller works have been carried out in the Bharatpur State. Ramgarh is said to have once been the capital of the Jaipur State under the name of Mashi ; there is a temple in the gorge called Jumwa Devi which is visited by the Maharajas of Jaipur on their accession to the gaddi. Here they are shaved, the process being part of the ceremony connected with the accession.
The stream in the gorge near Ramgarh is perennial, but lower down the bed dries up except during the rains. The banks are for the most part low, and in Bharatpur are covered, often to a distance of two or three miles from the stream, with a dense growth of jungle grass and tamarisk. In Dholpur territory ravines run inland from either bank, sometimes for a distance of two miles or more. Where it first touches the United Provinces, the Banganga is a mountain torrent with a bed of sand mixed with gravel. The principal tributaries are the Gambhir, Kawar or Koela, and Parvatl on the right bank, and the Kharl on the left. The Banganga and Kharl often bring down disastrous floods. In Bharatpur the violence of these has given the river the name of Ghora-pachhar or 'overthrower of horses.' \Papers relating to the Irrigation of the Agra District from the Utangan River (Roorkee, 1853-4).]
