 |
PLACES |
 |
PLACES OF
INTEREST.
AJRA.
Ajra (16° 05' N, 74° 10' E; p. 5,353), the
chief town of the Ajra Mahal, lies 40 miles west of Ghataprabha
railway station on the Miraj-Londha line of the Southern Railway,
and twenty-four miles west of Sankesvar. The town is prettily placed
a little to the north-west of the meeting of the Citri and
Hiranyakesi on a spur of the Sahvadris, -about twenty miles east of
the main crest. It is surrounded by jack and mango groves and the
deep ravines of the Citri and Hiranyakesi flanked by high woody
hills. The town stretches lengthwise south and north and covers an
area of about two and half square miles. It has two parts, Ajra
proper, the old town fenced by an earthwork with an outer ditch, and
Nababpur of later growth to the north of the earthwork. Besides the
river water, the town has an abundant supply from wells. The climate
is cool and pleasant during the hot season. Besides footpaths to the
villages around, Ajra is joined with Vengurle by the Amboli Pass
road and by a cart track which runs past Gaddhinglaj with Nipani and
Sankesvar on the Pune-Belganv road. The chief export is rice, which
was sent to Pune for the Pesava's household and is still well known
all over the Deccan. Besides rice, hirda, Terminalia chobula
is exported. A weekly market is held every Friday and is largely
attended by people from the neighbouring villages.
History.
Ajra once belonged to the chief of Kapasi through
whom the Icalkaranji chiefs take their name of Ghorapade. During the
disorders of the latter part of the eighteenth century Ajra was a
centre of border warfare. In 1746. through the influence of the
third Pesava Balaji Bajirao (1740-1761), Chatrapati Sahu of Satara
gave the town and sub-division of Ajra to Anubai Saheb the
daughter-in-law of Naro Mahadev the founder of the Icalkaranji
family. In 1792 the town and sub-division of Ajra were farmed to one
of the ancestors of the Phadnis or Phadnavis family of Ajra. Under
the Phadnis Ajra was constantly at war with its neighbours Nesri,
Bhudargad, and the Kolhapur State, and was guarded by a garrison
1000 strong kept at a yearly cost of about Rs. 32,000. In 1800 one
Cinto Ramcandra Phadnis led the small garrison of Ajra against
Harpavada and Bellevadi and stormed Ibrahimpur. In 1801 Jivaji,
Cinto Ramcandra's brother, lost his life in a fight at Bhudargad.
The family however, managed to retain Ajra in their hands.
As the headquarters of mahal, Ajra has the usual
revenue, police, and post offices. The town has a high school, a
primary school, a dispensary, a veterinary dispensary, a reading
room, Hindu temples, a Roman Catholic church and two mosques. The
chief objects of interest are the temples of Ravalnath and Ramling
and the ruins of a hill fort. The temple of Ravalnath has a
rest-house attached and enjoys a yearly granc of Rs. 225-2-9 as cash
allowance. In a deep ravine on the Hiranyakesi, with a fine pool and
waterfall, about a mile and a half north of the town, is the small
stone temple of Ramling, with a life-size image of Nandi or Siva's
bull. Every year on Mahasivratri day in Magh or
January-February a fair is held attended by about 5,000 people. A
small hill at the north end of Nababpur is crowned by the ruins of
an old fort. According to tradition the older town spread over the
top and slopes of the hill, but as in Muhammadan times it was
constantly attacked by robbers, the people removed to Ajra which
they strengthened with an earthwork and ditch. The town had formerly
only two gates. To give more air, several fresh breaches were made
in the wall, and bamboo thickets which covered the ditch were
cleared.
| 
