Revision as of 15:07, 6 November 2014

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.

Jaisalmer Town

Capital of the State of the same name in Rajputana, situated in 26 55' N. and 70 55' E., about 90 miles north of the Jodhpur-Blkaner Railway at Barmer, and approximately 1,200 miles north-west of Calcutta, and 600 north of Bombay. Popu-, lation (1901), 7,137. The town was built by and named after Rawal Jaisal in 1156. It stands at the south end of a low range of hills, and is surrounded by a substantially built stone wall, 3 miles in circuit, 10 to 15 feet high, 5 feet thick, and strengthened by bastions and corner towers. The two main entrances, one on the west and the other on the east, are connected by a metalled and paved road, fairly wide in most parts, which is the principal thoroughfare; the other streets are chiefly narrow passages — narrowest where some of the finest houses stand, as the well-to-do were able to encroach when rebuilding or improving their residences. A large portion of the space within the walls is unoccupied, but the ruins lying about prove that the place must have been far more populous in former times. To the south, on a hill overlooking the town, stands the fort. This hill is about 250 feet above the surrounding country, and 500 yards long by 250 wide at its greatest diameter. It is entirely covered with buildings and defences ; and the base is surrounded by a buttress wall of solid blocks of stone about 15 feet high, above which the hill projects and supports the ramparts, forming a double line of defence. The bas- tions are in the form of half towers, surmounted by high turrets and joined by short thick walls; these again support battlements which form a complete chain of defence about 30 feet above the hill. The fort is approached by one entrance on the town side, which has four gates. Within the fort is the MaharawaPs palace, an imposing pile crowned by a huge umbrella of metal mounted on a stone shaft, a solid emblem of dignity of which the Bhati chiefs are justly proud ; but the interior is ill-arranged and space is frittered away in numberless small apartments. The houses are all substantially built of stone and mortar and flat-roofed. Most of them have beautifully carved fronts of the yellow limestone found locally, which is easily chiselled when first quarried, and becomes harder on exposure. The Jain temples in the fort are very fine, the carving in them being exquisite ; some of them are said to be 1,400 years old. The town possesses a post office, a jail with accommodation for 88 prisoners (the daily average strength in 1904 being 54), an Anglo- vernacular school and a primary Hindi school attended by 160 boys, and a hospital with accommodation for 6 in-patients.