Baran
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.
Baran
Head-quarters of the district of the same name in the State of Kotah, Rajputana, situated in 25 6' N. and 79 31' E., on the left bank of the Banganga rivulet, a tributary of the ParbatI, about 45 miles by metalled road almost due east of Kotah city. About half a mile to the west is the railway station, the present terminus of the Bina-Baran branch of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Population (1901), 7,892. The town, which is said to have been founded by the Solanki Rajputs in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and to have been called by its present name because it was populated by the inhabitants of twelve (barah) adjacent villages, is now the principal trade centre of the State, and possesses a combined post and telegraph office, two primary schools (one of them for girls), and a hospital with accommo- dation for twelve in-patients. A Government opium agency was estab- lished here in 1904, and in the following season 1,094 chests, or about 68 tons of opium, passed through the scales. Baran is noted for its chundri bandish or tie and dye work. The pattern is produced by knotting up with thread any portion of the cloth which is to escape being dyed ; and as a separate knotting is required for each of the numerous colours, in the case of an elaborate design the delicacy and labour involved are enormous.
