Raybag
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.
Raybag
Head-quarters of the petty division of the same name in Kolhapur State, Bombay, situated in 16 30' N. and 74 52' E,, on the Southern Mahratta Railway, 24 miles south-east of Shirol. Population ( 1 9 OI )j 3*804. In the eleventh century it is said to have been the chief town of a Jain chiefship. According to a local story, the town was formerly so wealthy that on one market day the maid of a rich merchant bid Rs 5,000 for a gourd. By this offer she outbid the servant of Randullah Khan, the local Bijapui governor The servant in anger told her master that all the best things in the market went to the merchants.
The governor, thinking that the town had grown over- wealthy, ordered it to be plundered, a misfortune from which it has never recovered. Most of the inhabitants are Jams and Marathas, and the town is surrounded by a mud wall. On every Monday a market is held, where grain and coarse cloth are offered for sale Raybag con- tains three temples, a mosque, and the domed tomb of Randullah Khan, which has recently been repaired. The Someshwar temple is old, and built of huge well-sculptured blocks of stone The Sidheshwar temple, which is built of black stone, was repaired in 1875 by the indviddrs or piopnetors of the Raybag petty division The Narsmgha temple is an underground structure of black stone The image of Narsmgha is richly caived, and is said to have been brought from the Kistna near Jalalpur.
