Radhanpur 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.
Radhanpur Town
Capital of the State of the same name in Bombay, situated in 23 49' N. and 71 39' E. Population (1901), 11,879. It lies in the midst of an open plain, mostly under water during the rains. It is surrounded by a loopholed wall 15 feet high, 8 feet broad, and about 2\ miles in circumference, with corner towers, 8 bastioned gateways, outworks, and a ditch now filled up There is also, surrounded by a wall, an inner fort or castle, where the Nawab lives. Radhanpur is a considerable trade centre for Northern Gujarat and Cutch. The nearest railway station 3 34 miles distant, is at Patan. A municipality is maintained from local taxation, which yielded Rs. 2,717 in 1903-4, and from a monthly grant of Rs, 750 made by the State. The chief exports are rapeseed, wheat, grain, and cotton; and the chief imports are rice, sugar, tobacco, cloth, and ivory. In 1816, and again in 1820, a disease, in many symptoms resembling the true plague, visited Radhanpur and caused the death of half its population. The name is said to be derived from Radhan Khan, a descendant of Fateh Khan Baloch who held the town under the Ahmadabad Sultans. Another tradition claims for the town a remote origin (A.D. 546), and that it was named after Radan Deo, a Chavada chief. Since the defeat of Kamal-ud-din Khan Babi at Ahmadabad in 1753, Radhanpur has been the head-quarters of a branch of the Babi family.
