Rajmahal Village
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.
Rajmahal Village
Head-quarters of the subdivision of the same name in the Santal Parganas District, Bengal, situated in 25 3' N. and 87 50' E. 5 on the right bank of the Ganges. Rajmahal is now a mere collection of mud huts, interspersed with a few respectable houses, The ruins of the old Muhammadan city, buried in rank jungle, extend for about 4 miles to the west of the modern village. After his return from the conquest of Onssa in 1592, Man Singh, Akbar's Rajput general, selected Rajmahal (formerly Agmahal) as the capital of Bengal on account of its central position with respect to that Province and to Bihar, and because it commanded the Ganges and the pass of Tehagarhi. The chief antiquities of Rajmahal are the Jama Masjid of Man Singh, the palaces of Sultan Shuja and Mir Kasim All, Nawab of Bengal, the Phulbaii or flower garden, and numerous mosques and monuments. In the beginning of the nine- teenth century Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton estimated that the town con- tained from 25,000 to 30,000 persons, In the Census of 1901 the population was returned at 2,047. In 1860, when the loop-line of the East Indian Railway was opened to Rajmahal, an arm of the Ganges ran immediately under the station, forming a navigable channel for steamers and boats of all sizes. In 1863-4 the river abandoned this channel, leaving an alluvial bank in its place. Rajmahal was till 1879 3 miles distant from the main stream of the Ganges, and could be approached by large boats only during the rains. In that year the Ganges returned to its old bed, but in 1882 it showed indications of again deserting it. In consequence of these changes the bulk of trade has been transferred to Sahibganj, though Rajmahal still retains the local traffic across the Ganges with Malda District.
