Hajipur Town
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.
Hajipur Town
Head-quarters of the subdivision of the same name in Muzaffarpur District, Bengal, situated in 25° 41' N. and 85° 12' E., on the right bank of the Gandak, a short distance above its confluence with the Ganges opposite Patna. Population (1901), 21,398. It is said to have been founded about 500 years ago by Haji Ilyas, the supposed ramparts of whose fort enclosing an area of 360 Mghas are still visible. The old town is said to have reached as far as Mehnar fhana, 20 miles to the east, and to a village called Gadaisarai on the north. HajTpur figured conspicuously in the history of the struggles between Akbar and his rebellious Afghan governors of Bengal, being twice besieged and captured by the imperial troops^ in 1572 and again in 1574.
Its command of water traffic in three directions makes the town a place of considerable commercial impor- tance. Moreover, it lies on the main line of the Bengal and North- western Railway, which runs west from Katihar, and it is also connected by a direct branch with Muzaffarpur town. Hajipur was constituted a municipality in 1869. The area within municipal limits is to square miles. The income during the decade ending 1901-2 averaged Rs. 11,000, and the expenditure Rs. 8,900. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 13,000, mainly from a tax on houses and lands ; and the expenditure was Rs. 15,000.
The town contains the usual public offices; the sub-jail has accommodation for 12 prisoners. Within the area of the old fort is a small stone mosque, very plain but of peculiar architecture, attributed to Haji Ilyas. Its top consists of three rounded domes, the centre one being the largest. They are built of horizontally placed rows of stones, each row being a circle and each circle being more contracted than the one immediately below it, until the keystone is reached, which is circular. Two other mosques and a small Hindu temple are in the town or its immediate vicinity. A Buddhist temple, surrounded by a sarai or resthouse, was built f(^r the late Sir Jang Bahadur on the occasion of his visits from Nepal.
