Patiala Town
Patiala Town, 1908
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.
Capital of the Patiala State, Punjab, situated in 30 20' N. and 76 28' E., on the west bank of the Patiala stream, 34 miles west of Ambala cantonment, and on the Rajpura-Bhatinda branch of the North-Wesstern Railway. It is also connected with Nabha and Rawgrur by metalled roads. Population (1901), 53,545.
After the fall of Sirhind in 1763, Raja Ala Singh built a masonry fort on the site of Patiala, then a perty village, from the customs dues collected at Sirhind. The inhabitants of Sirhind migrated in large numbers to Patiala, which has ever been the capital of the chiefs of the State. It is the centre of a considerable local trade, many articles of luxury being manufactured in it. It contains a State work- shop. The old palace is in the middle of the town, which is not unpicturesque, the bazars being wide and straight, though the side streets are narrow and crooked. The environs of the town are, how- ever, beautifully lald out with gardens and shady roads, among which are the numerous public buildings and residences of the Maharaja and his officials. Of the former, the Mohindar College, the Rajindar Victoria Diamond Jubilee Library, the Rajindar Hospital, the Baradari or royal residence, the Moti Bagh, or * pearl garden,' and the Victoria Memorial Poorhouse deserve mention. The rawitation of the town is efficient ; but owing to its low-lying situation it is subject to heavy floods, which occasionally do much damage to its buildings, and cause malarial fevers in the autumn months. A municipality has recently been established. The town contains the Sadr and Lady Dufferin Hospitals, and the Lady Curzon Training School for midwives and nurses, opened in 1906. The Victoria Girls' School was opened in the same year.
