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PLACES |
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PANHALA
Panhala (Panhala Mahal; 16° 45' N; 74° 05' E;
p. 2,573), is the head-quarters of the Panhala Mahal and is the best
health resort in the Kolhapur district. It has two parts, Panhala
fort or Killa Panhala, also called Huzur Bazar (head-quarters
market) on the hill-top, and the suburbs of Ravivar, Mangalvar,
Guruvar and Ibrahampur at the foot of the hill fort. The hill-top is
pleasantly broken and adorned with cliffs, pools, and shady springs.
Except during the rains the climate is delightful, the days cool,
and the nights fresh. The fort is famous for its freedom from
cholera chiefly because of its plentiful supply of pure iron-charged
water. The best spring is the Nagajhari (Cobra Spring), but it dries
up in the hot weather. The chief reservoirs which hold water
throughout the year are the Sadoba tank with stone steps 221 feet
long, 148 broad and thirty-five deep, and Somala tank also with
stone steps 220 feet long, 190 broad and seventeen deep. Of the
wells, the chief is the Sringar or Andhar bav which stands west of
the fort close to the rampart. [In the Karvir Puran some of the
ponds, springs, and wells are mentiioned as tirths or holy
pools and bear old mythological names. Thus the Sadoba pool is
called Parashar's pool, the Somala ponds Soma pool, the Nagihari
spring Nag Pool, the ling well Vasanta pool, the Palang well
Madan pond, the Kapur well Ashvalayan pool and the Mhar pond Stambha
pool.] Near the old Dharmakothi building, every sunday a market is
held attended by about 2,000 people. In this market rice, millet,
vegetables, spices, and cloth are sold to the value of about Rs.
580. In the suburbs at the foot of the hill-top another small market
is held every Wednesday.
Municipality.
The civic affairs of the town are managed by a
municipality established in 1954 under the Bombay District Municipal
Act, 1901. The municipal area covers one and half sq. miles. The
municipal council is composed of 12 members, all nominated by the
Government. The Prant Officer, Northern Division, is the ex-officio
president of the municipality and looks after the work of the
administration of the Panhala municipality. The Superintendent of
the hill station is directed to work as a Secretary of the
municipality and looks after all the routine work of the
municipality and supervises and controls the staff. The municipality
functions mostly under a Government grant. The yearly income from
municipal taxes and other sources does not exceed Rs. 7,000
(1957-58).
Municipal Services.
There is a Government dispensary in the heart of the
town. There is a mobile Government veterinary dispensary for
Panhala: the stockman comes to Panhala once a week (i.e., on
Wednesdays). There are eight wells and four tanks which supply water
to the villages. The Panhala municipality had in. January 1955
constructed a pipe-line viz., Sidbor Pipe Line, by which half of the
population of the village is provided with water. There is no
special drainage system. There are stone-lined gutters and the
cesspools are emptied by the municipality. Compulsory primary
education in the town is managed by the Kolhapur District School
Board. The annual contribution of the municipality has been fixed at
Rs. 3,380, but the municipality has not yet paid any contribution.
There is no fire service maintained by the municipality. The
approximate length of roads within the municipal area is 8 miles, 7
miles of which are metalled.
Burial places.
Cremation and burial places are not managed by the
municipality. There is one place for burial and one for cremation
granted for public use by the Government.
Gardens.
The municipality maintains a garden called the
Lingbag where the municipality has undertaken to construct a
children's park. There is a public library, called the Moropant
Granthalaya, and the municipality is constructing a building to
house it at a cost of Rs. 17,000. The municipality maintains a
rest-house and runs a cafeteria.
Panhala is being developed into a hill station by
the Government. The municipality has been trying its utmost to
extend all kinds of amenities to the public within its means.
Panhala port.
Panhala Fort crowns one of the tops of the Panhala
spur of the Sahyadris, about twelve miles to the north-west of the
Kolhapur-Ratnagiri Road. The Panhala uplands are 2772 feet above the
sea and about 1300 feet above the Kolhapur plain, and the hill top
which the Panhala fort crowns rises about 275 feet above the
uplands. The fort is about four and half miles in circumference. For
about half the distance it is protected by a scarp thirty to fifty
feet high which in places is strengthened by a loopholed parapet
wall. For the remaining half the fort is surrounded by a strong
stone wall fifteen to thirty feet thick at the top and with bastions
at convenient distances for carrying guns. The fort was entered
through three magnificent double gateways which were reached from
the tableland by long flights of stone steps. Of these three
gateways Car Darvaja has been destroyed and third Tin Darvaja and
Wagh Darvaja are still entire and are finely built with much light
tracery on the door posts and architrave. About forty-six yards from
the third gateway a breach about forty yards long marks the spot
where the British troops forced an entrance when the fort was held
by insurgents in 1844. North of the fort with a gorge about ninety
yards wide is a natural basin, whose entrance is guarded by two
large raised platforms. Two unfailing reservoirs and many pure
springs afford an ample water supply, and a large area of rich soil
and abundant brushwood secured a garrison from scarcity of grain or
firewood.
History.
Panhala is the traditional residence of the sage
Parasr. The Karavir or Kolhapur Puran a compilation of A.D. 1730,
mentions Panhala as Pannagalaya or the home of Serpents. In old
inscriptions the name appears as Pranlak and Padmanal. A copper
plate found in Satara shows that in A. D. 1191-92 Panhala was the
seat of the Siahara Bhoja Raja II. (1178-1209) who is first
mentioned as living at Valvad, apparently either Valva about fifteen
miles south or Valivade about four and half miles north of Kolhapur;
in 1187 as ruling at Kolhapur and about three years later (1191) as
ruling in Panhala fort. Bhoja Raja is said to have built fifteen
forts of which Bavada, Bhudargad, Panhala, Satara and Visalgad are
the chief. About A.D. 1209-10 Bhoja Raja was defeated by Singhana
(1209-1247) the most powerful of the Devagiri Yadavas. After Bhoja
Raja's defeat Panhala seems to have fallen into the hands of petty
Maratha chiefs. In 1376 inscriptions record the settlement of
Nabhapur to the south-east of the fort. On the establishment of the
Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur in 1489, Panhala came under Bijapur
and was fortified with great care. To the Bijapur government are
ascribed the strong ramparts and gateways of the fort which
according to tradition took a hundred years to build. Numerous
inscriptions in the fort refer to the reign of Ibrahim Adil Shah,
probably Ibrahim I (1534-1557). In 1659, immediately after the
discomfiture
of the Bijapur general Afzal Khan, Sivaji took
Panhala from Bijapur. In May 1660, to win back the fort from Sivaji,
Ali Adil Shah II (1656-1672) of Bijapur sent Sidi Johar who laid
siege to Panhala in which Sivaji had shut himself. After four months
siege Sivaji escaped to Rangana about fifty-five miles south-west of
Kolhapur, and shortly after Panhala and Pavanagad were taken by Ali
Adil Shah in person. In 1673, Sivaji again took Panhala. In 1674,
the Bijapur generals made an unsuccessful attempt on the fort, and
till his death in 1680 Panhala remained in the hands of Sivaji, who
for a time kept his son Sambhajl under guard at Panhala. After
Sivaji's death Sambhajl won over to his side the commandant of
Panhala and marching on Raigad in the central Konkan overthrew
Rajaram's faction and established himself as head of the Marathas.
About nine years later in 1669 when Sambhaji was made prisoner by
Aurangzeb's general Takribkhan at Sangamesvar in Ratnagiri, Panhala
came under the Mughals. In 1692, Panhala was retaken by Parasuram
Trimbak, the ancestor of the Kolhapur Pant Pratinidhi family of
Visalgad. In 1701, the emperor Aurangzeb laid siege to and took
Panhala in person. In this year at Panhala, on the 28th of April,
Aurangzeb received the English ambassador Sir William Norris who
spent 200 gold mohars (£ 300) in fruitless negotiation with the
Moghal emperor. Shortly after, in 1701, Panhala was taken from the
Moghals by Ramcandra Pant Amatya. In 1705 Tarabai, the widow of
Rajaram (1689-1700) made Panhala her head-quarters. In Tarabai's war
with Sahu of Satara in 1708, Sahu took Panhala and Tarabal fled to
Malvan in Ratnagiri. Shortly after, in 1709, Tarabal again took
Panhala. In 1782 the seat of the Kolhapur government was moved from
Panhala to Kolhapur. In 1827 under Sahaji (1821-1837) Panhala and
Pavanagad were for a time made over to the British Government. In
1844, during the minority of Sivaji IV (1837-1866), Panhala and
Pavanagad were taken by rebels who seized Colonel Ovans, the
Resident of Satara, when on tour and imprisoned him in Panhala. A
British force was sent against the rebels and on the 1st of
December, 1844 breached the fort wall, took it by storm, and
dismantled the fortifications. A garrison of 1845 militia and a
hundred pieces of ordnance were left to guard the fort.
Present stale of the
fort.
Of the ruins on the hill top one of the oldest is
the citadel in the centre of the fort, surrounded by high ruined
walls enclosing a tangled growth of jack, mango, guava, and other
trees and bushes. Nothing remains of, the old palace but stone
foundations and plinths hid in shrubs and underwood. Of three
enormous stone and cement granaries built with arched roofs and
capable of holding provisions for a large army, the largest known as
Ganga Kothi, a massive building with two entrances, is nearly choked
with rubbish. On either side a staircase leads to a terrace where
exist small holes through which large quantities of grain used to be
passed. The building is 10,200 feet square and thirty-five feet
high. Of the two other granaries, one is 152 feet long, forty feet
broad, and eighteen feet high, and the other eighty-eight feet long,
thirty-five broad, and thirty high. Besides these three large
granaries the Dharma Kothi granary is also a stone building
fifty-five feet by forty-eight and thirty-five feet high with an
entrance and a staircase leading to a terrace. On the east of the
fort close to the rampart stands the Kalavantin's Sajja or
courtesans' terrace-room. It is nearly a complete wreck except that
traces of fine ornament remain in the ceiling. It is sixty feet by
thirty-six and fifty-eight feet high. To the north of the fort
stands a palace of His Highness the Maharaja of Kolhapur, a stone
and mud structure two storeyed and tile-roofed with room for a
hundred to two hundred men. To the east of the palace close to the
rampart is a massive stone and mortar building called the
Sajjekothi. It is two-storeyed, thirty-six feet by thirty-one and
forty-one feet high with one entrance and a staircase leading to the
upper storey. On the south of the fort close to the rampart stands a
small stone building called the Talimakhana or wrestling house with
three domed rooms. The Redemahal to the south of the mamlatdar's
office is 101' x 53' x 36' high. Close to the Mamlatdar's office
stands Sambhaji Maharaja's temple, ninety feet by forty-six and
including the spire fifty-five feet high. The temple is surrounded
by an arch roofed building which is used as a rest-house. Opposite
Sambhaji's temple is another dedicated to Jijibai Saheb the wife of
Sambhaji Maharaja (1712-1760). Of Musalman buildings the most
important is the shrine of Sadhoba a Musalman saint. It is
surrounded by a stone and mud wall and is twenty-nine feet square
and including the dome fifty feet high. Every year a fair or
urus is held. This place is said to have been the seat
of the sage Parasar whose name the Karavir Mahatmya associates with
several objects of interest on Panhala hill. Among these objects to
the south of the fort is a rock-cut cave of the sage Parasar.
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