Than
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, units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts.Many units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Than
Village in the State of Lakhtar, Kathiawar, Bombay, situated to the north of the main road from Wadhwan to Rajkot. Population (1901), 1,327. The village is surrounded by a fort. It is interesting for its traditions rather than for the few antiquarian remains now existing. The following description of the place is condensed from an account supplied by Major J. W. Watson : —
Than is one of the most ancient places in India, and the whole of the neighbourhood is holy ground. Than itself derives its name from the Sanskrit sthm, 'a place,' as though it were the place, hallowed above all others by the residence of devout sages, by the magnificence of its city, and by its propinquity to famous shrines, such as that of Trineteshwara, now called Tarnetar, the famous temple of the Sun at Kandola, and those of the Snake brethren Vasuki and Banduk, now known as Wasangi and Bandia Beli respectively.
Than is situated in the part of Surashtra (Kathiawar) known as the Deva Panchal — so called, it is said, from having been the native country of Draupadi, the wife of the five Pandava brothers, from which circumstance she was called Panchali ; and because it is peculiarly sacred, it is called the Deva Panchal. Nor is Than famous in local tradition alone. One of the chapters of the Skanda Purana is devoted to Trineteshwara and the neighbourhood, and this chapter is vulgarly called the Than Purana or Tarnetar Mahatmya. Here we learn that the first temple to the Sun was built by Raja Mandhata in the Satya Yug. The city is said then to have covered many square miles, and to have contained a population of 36,000 Brahmans, 52,000 Vaisyas, 72,000 Kshattriyas, and 90,000 Sudras, in all 250,000.
In 1690 Kartalab Khan, viceroy of Gujarat, stormed the town and levelled the old temple. The present temple is built on the former site. Than was visited also by Krishna and his consort Rukmini, who bathed in the two tanks near the town, whence one has been called Pritam, a' contraction from priyatam, ' the beloved,' after Krishna, so named as being the beloved of the GopTs ; and the other Kamala, after Lakshml, whose symbol is the kamala or lotus blossom. The central fortress was called Kandola, and here was the celebrated temple of the Sun. Immediately opposite to Kandola is another hill, with a fort called in more recent times, Songarh ; and another large suburb was named Mandva. Within a few miles was the shrine of the three-eyed god Trineteshwara, one of the appellations of Siva ; and close to this, the celebrated kund^ by bathing in which all sins were washed away. This tank was called the Papnashan or ' sin-expelling,' as the forest in which it was situated was called the Papanodanu-vana, or the ' forest of the sin-destroyer.' Close to Than are the Mandhav hills, distinguished by this name from the rest of the Thanga range of which they form a part ; and the remains of Mandhavgarh, such as they are, may be seen close to the shrine of Bandia Beli, the modern name of Banduk, one of the famed Snake brethren.
An account of the remains at present existing will be found in Dr. Burgess's Archaeological Survey of Western India.
