Sambhar 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.
Sambhar Town
Town within the joint jurisdiction of the States of Jodhpur and Jaipur, in Rajputana, situated in 26 55' N. and 75 n / E., at the south-eastern extremity of the SAMBHAR LAKE on the Rajputana-Malwa Railway. Population (1901), 10,873. In the town are a post and telegraph office, several schools, including one for girls kept up by the United Free Church of Scotland Mission, and a couple of hospitals, one of which is maintained by the British Government for the benefit of those employed on the salt lake. Sam- bhar is a very ancient town.
It was the first capital of the Chauhan Rajputs when they came to Rajputana from the Ganges about the middle of the eighth century; and the last -Hindu king of Delhi, Prithwl Raj Chauhan, who died in 1192, was proud to be styled Sambhari Rao or lord of Sambhar. It appears to have been held by the Muhammadan kings and emperors of Delhi from the begin- ning of the thirteenth century till about 1708, when it was taken, with the sixty villages attached to it, by the chiefs of Jodhpur and Jaipur. Subsequently first one State and then the other, taking advantage of any temporary weakness in its neighbour, appropriated the outlying villages till only twelve, besides the town of Sambhar, remained in joint possession.
