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PLACES |
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SHIROL
Shirol (16° 40' N; 74° 35-' E; p. 10,131),
the head-quarters of Sirol Taluka, lies thirty miles east of
Kolhapur and about four miles to the north of the meeting of the
Pancaganga and Krsna. It is about six miles from Jaisingpur railway
station on the Kolhapur-Miraj metre gauge line. A first class road
joins Sirol with Kolhapur. Sirol is sometimes called Ghumat Sirol or
Sirol with the dome, because it used to have a large domed tomb of a
Bijapur officer named Nurkhan which Parasurama Bhau Patavardhan is
said to have destroyed in 1779. Sirol is guarded by a ditch and a
wall and is strengthened by an inner citadel. During the wars
between Kolhapur and the Patavardhans in the latter part of the
eighteenth century Sirol changed hands several times. In 1780 it was
finally taken by Sivaji III (1760-1812) and became a part of
Kolhapur State. The chief street runs north-south and is lined by
good houses. As the water of almost all the wells is brackish,
drinking water is brought from the river which is about a mile
distant. There is a Government dispensary in the town and also a
high school run by a private society. There also a public library.
Shirol has two large temples, two mosques, and a tower. Of the two
temples Kalesvar's is the oldest though of no great age as it is
built of stone and mortar. It is thirty-five feet long, twenty-five
feet broad, and twenty-eight feet high. The other temple, which is
dedicated to Dattatreya is held specially sacred. The only object of
worship in the temple is a slab of stone on which an open hand is
carved. It is called the temple of Bhojanapatra or the dinner plate,
and a stone vessel or patra is still preserved in which, according
to tradition, the god Dattatreya once took a meal or bhojan
with a holy Brahman of Sirol. Of the two mosques which are said to
have been built by Surkhan of Bijapur, one is thirty-two by
twenty-two feet and the other thirty-five by twenty-seven feet. The
ruined tower which stands in the centre of the town is said to have
been built by the Kolhapur State in 1833 A. D. It is thirty-five
feet high and 150 feet round.
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