Bayana
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.
Bayana
Head-quarters of a tahsil of the same name in the State of Bharatpur, Rajputana, situated in 26° 55 N. and 77° 18' E., close to the left bank of the Gambhir river, a tributary of the Banganga, and about 25 miles south-by-south-west of Bharatpur city. Population (1901), 6,867. Ihe town contains a vernacular school, attended by 150 boys, and a hospital. The ancient name of the place was Sripatha. Two old Hindu temples were, till recently, used by the Musalmans as mosques, and each has a Sanskrit inscription. One of them, bearing date a.d. 1043, mentions a Jadon Raja, Bijai Pal, to whom is unani- mously attributed the building of the well-known fort of Bijaigarh, which is situated on an eminence about 2 miles to the south-west, and is shown in all maps under the name of Badalgarh Kot. There are several old temples and remains in this fort ; but the chief object of interest is a red sandstone pillar (lat) bearing an inscription of the Varika king, Vishnuvardhana, a tributary of Samudra Gupta, dated in A.D. 372. Bijai Pal, whose descendants rule at Karauli, is said to have been killed about the middle of the eleventh century in a battle with Masud Salar, a nephew of Mahmud of Ghazni, when the fort was taken. It was soon after recovered by the Rajputs, only, however, to be again stormed successfully by Abu Bakr, Kandahari, whose tomb is still pointed out in the vicinity. Thenceforward, it seems to have been held by whatever dynasty ruled at Delhi. Muhammad Ghori took it in 1196 and Sikandar Lodi in 1492. Babar, writing in 1526, describes the fort as one of the most famous in India, and his son Humayun took it from the Lodis in 1535. Bayana is mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari as having in former times been the capital of a province of which Agra was but a dependent village. It possessed a large fort containing many buildings and subterranean caverns, also a very high tower. The mangoes, some of which weighed above 2 lb., were excellent, and the place was famous for its very white sugar and its indigo, the latter selling at from Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 a maund '.
[Indian Antiquary, vols, xiv and xv ; J. F. Fleet, Gupta Inscriptions, P- 253-]
' As much as 3,562 'great maunds of Indicoe Byana,' valued at 278,673 mahmudis (say ;14,ooo), was consigned to England in the Royal Anne, the ship which brought home Sir Thomas Roe in 1619.
