Rajmachi
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.
Rajmachi
(or ' the royal terrace '). An isolated double-peaked fortified hill on the main line of the Western Ghats, in the Maval tdluka of Poona District, Bombay, situated in r85o'N. and 7324 X E., about 6 miles north of the Bor Pass. It can be visited from Khandala or Lonauli. From the Konkan, thickly wooded at the base, its sides rise about 2,000 feet in steep rock slopes which, as they near the crest of the hill, grow gradually treeless and bare. Above the crest from the flat hill-top towers a rocky neck about 200 feet high with at either end a short fortified tower-like head, the inner, Srivardhan (Muck's increase'), high and pointed, the outer, Manranjan ('heart gladdener'), lower and flat-topped. A tongue of land about 300 yards broad joins Rajmachi to the rough plateau that runs along the crest of the Ghats north from Khandala. Across this tongue of land, half a mile from the foot of the central hill-top, is a strong stone wall 1 7 feet high and 8 thick, with a parapet loopholed for musketry, and with bastions at intervals pierced for cannon. A wide stretch of tilled land within this line of wall ensured the garrison a full supply of gram, grass, and fuel.
From this upland, at a safe distance from the neighbouring heights, the central hill-top rises 300 to 400 feet high, a sheer, black, over- hanging cliff crowned by a battlemented peak, and towards the west strengthened by a double line of encircling walls. On the crest of the neck that joins the two peaks, fronting a small temple of Bhairav, stand three old stone lamp-pillars or dipmals, and two small, quaintly carved stone chargers ready saddled and bridled for the god. The temple, which is little more than a hut, has three pairs of small, black stone images of Bhairav and his wife Jogeshvari, presented, according to tradition, by SivajT, Sahu, and Baji Rao Peshwa. Srivardhan, the eastern and higher fort, less sheer to the south than to the north, is in places strengthened by a triple line of wall. On the south side, through VOL. XXI. F
the ruined gateway, is reached a chamber cut m the rock, once used as a granary or storehouse, and close by is a large rock-cut reservoir* On the north, in a narrow ledge of the steep cliff, hollowed into the hill and always sheltered from the sun, is a cistern with an unfailing supply of pure water. The inner fortification, with a few ruined dwellings, encloses the central peak, thegadti or 'stronghold.' Man- ranjan, the outer hill, less completely protected by nature, is very carefully fortified with two high strong lines of wall. The outer line, running along the crest of the cliff, encloses some cisterns and reser- voirs of cut stone \ the inner, encircling the flat hill-top, has within it the powder magazine, a long, low, tomb-like, roofless building of very closely fitting cut stone, and close to it the ruins of the com- mandant's house and a cistern.
The western wall commands the delightful prospect that gives the fort its name. Below lies the royal terrace, wooded and stream-furrowed to the north, bare and well-tilled to the west, and to the south laid out in fields with a small lake and a shady hamlet of Koli huts, North and south, beyond the plateau, stretches the main line of the Western Ghats, their sides rising from deep evergreen forests in bare black cliffs, to the rough, thinly wooded, part-tilled terrace that extends eastwards into the Deccan plain and along the crest, broken by wild, rocky peaks and headlands, from Hanschandragarh 50 miles to the north to Bhojya 18 miles to the south. Westwards stretch outlying spurs and ranges with deep, water- worn valleys and steep, well-wooded sides. Far off to the right rise Mahuii, Gotaura, Tungar, and the Salsette hills , in front, beyond the long flat backs of Matheran and Prabal, lie the harbour, island, and city of Bombay, and to the left s\\eeps the long range of hills that passes by Nagothna and Sagargarh from the Western Ghats to the extreme west of Alibag.
The first notice of Rajmachi is in 1648, when it was taken by Sivaji. In 1713 the fort surrendered to Angna, and was ceded by him in 1730 to the second Peshwa Baji Rao (1721-40). In 1776 the impostor Sadoba, a Kanaujia Brahman who called -himself Sadashiv Rao Bhau, took the greater part of the Konkan and came to the Bor Pass. Here he was opposed for a time, but eventually carried the Pass, and received offers of submission from Rajmachi. The Poona ministers then occupied his attention with pretended overtures of submission, until two of the Peshwa's officers suddenly fell on him in the neighbour- hood of Rajmachi, and drove him and his force to the Konkan. In the last Maratha War of 1818 the fort surrendered without resistance.
Rajmahal Subdivision. North-eastern subdivision of the Santal Parganas District, Bengal, lying between 24 43' and 25 18' N. and 87 27' and 87 57' E , with an area of 741 square miles. The sub- division contains a narrow strip of alluvial soil along the banks of the Ganges, which forms its eastern boundary, but the greater part is hilly country stretching southwards from Sahibganj. The population in 1901 was 276,703, compared with 276,395 in 1891, the density being 373 persons per square mile. It contains one town, SAHIBGANJ (population, 7j558), an important centre of trade; and 1,292 villages, of which RAJMAHAL is the head-quartet s. A large part of the Daman-i-koh Government estate lies within the subdivision.
