Adgaon.

Adgaon.-Adgaon is a village in Akot taluk nine miles west of Akot. It was the head of a pargana when the Ain-i-Akbari was compiled, and it has an earthen kila, fort, in which a naib was stationed under the Nizam; the pargana was only included in Akot taluk in 1865, and a petty Civil Judge held his court here for some time after that; the population was 3437 in 1867 and 3131 in 1909. Adgaon is therefore a place of some slight importance, but it contains little of interest. The river Nandini flows close by and holds water throughout the hot season; there are also numerous wells, as is indicated by the name. A. broad strip of land near the village, uncultivated for the last ten years, marks the route of the proposed Basim-Akola-Khandwa Railway. A number of temples exist, but none are large or striking; that of Dwarkeshwar, built outside the village in 1080 F. (A.D. 1671) by a Gaoli called Dwarki who was an officer of the Bhonslas, has two elephants fairly well carved over the doorway; the shrine of Dattatreya, built recently by Manu Manbhau, is known for the relief of people possessed by evil spirits. The great battle of Argaum was fought on 29th November 1803 near Sirsoli, three miles south of Adgaon, and brought to an end the authority of the Nagpur Raja in Berar. Sirsoli is a village of 1889 inhabitants; old men still repeat what their fathers saw of the battle. According to their account the chief fighting took place on some waste ground, now covered with babul trees but then open, immediately to the west of the village, and the marks of two cannon-balls are shown on the wall of a small temple near by. Fighting was however spread over a large area. The grave of Major Bullock, a name well known in Berar, lies a mile north of the village, and another English officer is said to have been killed to the south of it. A watercourse of some size runs roughly north and south, but the ground is mostly flat. The Gazetteer of 1870 says, ' A deep ravine or watercourse is still shown which lay across the rear of the broken army and checked their confused retreat until they had been sufficiently sabred by cavalry and pounded by guns.' Old men say that Sirsoli had then stronger fortifications than most villages and the people of other places came for shelter, neither man nor beast going outside for seven days; no harm was done to the village and no soldier from either side entered it. The people add however that the battle lasted for the whole seven days and that the gates were too strong for either army to force. They relate also that Benising, a defeated general of the Bhonsla's, fleeing toward Narnala killed first his children and then himself.

Akola Taluk.

Akola Taluk.-Akola taluk lies between latitudes 20⁰ 53' N. and 20⁰ 23' S. and longitudes 77° 25' E. and 76° 54' W; it is a block with an average length of about 30 miles from north to south and a breadth of about 25 miles from east to west; its area is 739 square miles. The taluk is an old one and contained 401 villages at the original settlement in 1867, but several of these were transferred to Balapur in the changes connected with the formation of Khamgaon taluk in 1870, and the total is now 354 villages, of which 339 are khalsa and 19 jagir. It has Balapur taluk on the west, Akot and Daryapur on the north, across the Purna river, Murtizapur on the east, and Mangrul and Basim on the south, so that it occupies the very middle of the District. The north, east, and centre of the taluk consist of fertile plain with rich black soil, but some miles in the extreme south are hilly, with shallow and inferior soil, and this poor soil runs halfway up the eastern border; however rice is grown in the east. The greatest height recorded is 1442 feet at Saukhed in the south; next come Rudrama hill in Rajankhed village, Haldoli, and Pimpalgaon in the south with 1384, 1367, and 1347; while all other heights recorded, including Mahan (1206), are between 1200 and 1300; higher land occurs across the southern borders. The drainage of the taluk is from south to north. The Morna on the west and Katepurna toward the east, with several tributaries of the latter, hold water all the year round; the Lonar, in the middle of the northern part, has water through most of the cold weather, but there are no other streams of any importance. Wells number on an average eleven to a village, but there is often a scarcity of good water, especially in the salt tract in the north. The chief tanks are at Ghusar and Akhatwada in the north, but they are apt to fail in the hot weather. The total area is 473,000 acres, of which 50,000 are forest, 400,000 occupied for cultivation, and 361,000 actually cropped; only 900 acres of cultivable land are left unoccupied. Between 1900 and, 1906 jawari varied between 120,000 and 170,000 acres, with a tendency to decrease, while cotton varied from 165,000 to 190,000 acres, inclining to increase, so that it constantly exceeded jawari. Other crops are comparatively unimportant; wheat, gram, and linseed each varied from 5000 or 6000 to 14,000 or 16,000 acres, one gaining what another lost, but for the last three years wheat had the largest area; in most of the six years til covered less than 4000 acres; there was no irrigation. The Nagpur branch of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway passes from west to east for 22 miles across the northern part of the taluk, with stations at Akola, Yawalkhed, Borgaon, and Katepurna; the line here is still single. A metalled road runs north from Akola to Akot, having a length of 11 miles within the taluk, and another runs south to Basim and Pusad, having 15 miles within the taluk, so that traffic centres in Akola Country roads are numerous and are mostly very good for bullock carts throughout the busy season, that is in the cold weather, and some of them have been much improved by the District Board. Weekly markets are held at fourteen places, that at Akola being the chief. Sangwi in the north is also important, partly because it is conveniently situated for travelling merchants on their way to the big markets of Akot taluk; Borgaon, where a bi-weekly market is held, is also of considerable size. Large fairs are held at Pinjar in Ashadh and Kartik (both during the rains) and at Sindkhed, on the Morna river, in April, but a weekly market which used to be held at the latter village has been almost ruined by the opening of a new one at Rajanda, two miles to the south. Factories for ginning cotton number 25 and those for pressing it 13; Akola town has a distillery, two cloth mills, and two steam oil mills. Hand manufactures are dying out here as elsewhere. The population of the 335 khalsa villages increased by 25 per cent. between 1867 and 1891; that of the old taluk was 110,000 in 1,867, and that of the present taluk 139,000 in 1881, 138,000 in 1891, and 150,000 in 1901, when the density was 204 persons to the square mile. During the famine decade no other taluk in Berar had as large an absolute increase of population as Akola, and only Mangrul had as much proportionate increase. The taluk in 1901 contained seven towns or villages with a population exceeding 2000, Akola, Barsi-Takli, Borgaon, Pinjar, Ugwa, Kurankhed, and Mahan. No description of Ugwa is given elsewhere because it is a commonplace village; it has a fairly good pojsition near the Akot metalled road; its population was 2655 in 1891 and 2473 in 1901. Mahan, on the Katepurna river in the south, is of more ancient importance as it was the headquarters of a small pargana. Its population in 1891 was 1802 and in 1901 it was 2239. It stands on level ground with fairly good soil close to the southern hills and is specially distinguished from a distance by a large white house built some years ago by a Muhammadan trader. A case of sati occurred in 1908 at Deodari, a few miles south of Mahan; the mourners said they left the spot while the body was still burning and the widow threw herself upon the pyre and was killed; the couple were of the Gaoli caste. The widow is said to have been a childless woman of about 30 and her husband had been 40. Kurankhed is situated on the Katepurna river in the east of the taluk within two miles of the railway. It was also the head of a pargana, and had a population of 2560 in 1891 and 2316 in 1901. During the settlement period, according to the Settlement Report of 1896, cultivation in the taluk increased by five percent., leaving only 320 acres unoccupied out of an available total of 370,000 acres, so that practically all the land was taken up; the numbers of wells, plough cattle, other cattle, houses, and population all increased from 32 to 57 per cent., horses by 14 and carts by 90 per cent., and there was great general prosperity; this was somewhat checked by the famine of 1899-1900. The first settlement was introduced in 1867, when the maximum rates varied from R. 1 As. 4 to Rs. 2 As.4 and were generally Rs. 2 or a few annas less. A revision settlement was introduced in the year 1897-1898, when the maximum rates varied from R. 1 As. 14 to Rs. 2 As. 10; the higher rate was applied to more than half of the taluk. The total land revenue in the year 1907-1908 was Rs. 5,71,263 (apart from cesses). Police stations are situated at Akola, Barsi Takli, Borgaon, and Pinjar. and there are two hospitals at Akola. Government schools in 1908 numbered 52, besides a training college with 67 pupils. Among the schools were 42 Marathi schools for boys and three for girls, four Hindustani schools for boys and two for girls, and one high school; the average attendance was reported as 57. Private schools are rare and of little importance.

Akola Town.

Akola Town.-Akola town, the headquarters of the District, stands in latitude 20° 43' N. and longitude 77° 04' E. at an elevation of 925 feet above sea-level. The Morna river, a tributary of the Purna, flows through it. The part on the west bank, enclosed by a wall, is known as shahar, while Tajnapeth, on the east bank, contains the Government buildings and the civil station; most of the population now live in Tajnapeth. Floods used to form a great barrier, so that the Muhammadans had a jama masjid on each side of the river, but at one time a floating bridge was in use, traces of which still remain, and traffic now passes over a good stone bridge opened in 1873. The Nagpur line of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway passes within municipal limits at one point, though only a few quarters recently inhabited lie to the north of it. All trains stop at Akola, and the station has a fine platform, but the entrance is across a lofty and very inconvenient bridge over a siding. The embankment of the proposed Khandwa-Akola-Basim Railway lies to the east of the town. The municipality has an area of 1674 acres and contains the whole of eight revenue villages and parts of three others; the land is all khalsa and, according to Berar custom, no rent accrues to either Government or the municipality except for 66 acres bought by the latter. The population was 12,236 in 1867, 16,614 in 1881, 21,470 in 1891, and 29,289 in 1901, so that Akola is the second largest town in Berar. At the last census Hindus numbered 21,000, Muhammadans 7500, Christians 360, Jains 230, Animistics 90, Parsis 83, and Sikhs 3. The revenue and expenditure of the municipality are about Rs. 70,000; no octroi is levied, but in 1908 a toll was instituted on animals and carts entering the town. The water-supply is obtained chiefly from wells at Majhoda, ten miles to the south, but this is insufficient and people also, use wells; the Morna river is dammed in two places near the town, comparatively small barriers holding up the water for a distance of three miles or more, and this probably helps to maintain the level of water in the wells. Masonry drains have been made for the shahar and part of the peth, and large intercepting drains are being built along the banks of the river to prevent the sullage water polluting it within the town. Few gardens exist at Akola, owing to lack of water, but one is maintained by Government. In the peth are the usual offices connected with the headquarters of a District, including a jail with accommodation for 560 prisoners, a sessions court, Anglican and Roman Catholic places of worship, buildings belonging to the Alliance Mission. a small European club, a native club, a library known by the name of Babuji Deshmukh, a rest-house called Pestonji sarai or Bymonji sarai after its builder and its restorer, a large town hall and municipal office, a hospital, a high school, a block of buildings connected with the name Ram or Shriram. and other buildings of a public nature. The Shriram temple and theatre are built side by side, the latter having been constructed by the temple authorities out of funds given on trust by Bachulal Gondulal, while the front has been occupied with good shops. The whole scheme has been admirably carried out and has provided Akola with some valuable buildings. The buildings of the shahar are not as a rule striking, but among the more interesting are the temples of Lakshmi Narayan and Ganpati and a new Jain temple; the Muhammadans have several mosques and a great number of tombs; there are several Government schools of different grades, and a so-called national school is just being started by voluntary effort. Beside the Shiwani road are a Parsi tower of silence and the farm settlement, Santa Barbara, of the Alliance Mission; a rifle-range has been laid out near the station and a race-course near the Malkapur road; and there is a Government experimental farm on the Basim road 3 miles south of Akola. The town stands in a good position for trade; the Akot road brings it most of the traffic of a very wealthy tract on the north, and the Basim road is the main outlet of an extensive area on the south; practically the whole trade of Basim taluk, much from Pusad, and some from the Nizam's Dominions follows this road to Akola. Cotton is the chief article of commerce, and the principal dealers are Marwaris who operate largely by means of money advanced by the different banks. Part of their transactions, connected with the forward delivery of different articles, is known as satta and forms a branch of speculation bordering closely on gambling, but it has decreased of recent years. Factories for ginning and pressing cotton number 21 and 12 respectively. The Native Ginning Pressing and Spinning Company started a weaving mill a few years ago, and the Akola and Mid-India Mill, occupying a large structure, began work toward the end of 1908; it was rumoured in some villages that a child was to be buried under its boilers Two firms of recent origin express by steam the oil of linseed and til-seed, exporting the oil chiefly to the Central Provinces and the oil-cake to England. A distillery provides daru, the liquor made from the mahua plant, for a large area. A large number of carters and cart-wrights live in the town and various petty industries are carried on; the workshop of the Alliance Mission, under the direction of Mr. R. M. Stanley, helps to set a good standard. Shops are fairly well-stocked and occasionally have a customers' chair outside; the weekly market attracts large numbers on Sundays. Labour, rent, and farm produce are dear. The civil station is simply but neatly laid out; a large open space where cricket and football are played separates it from the town. The surrounding country, though fertile, is flat and unpicturesque; Akola is very hot, but the heat is dry and relieved by cool nights. Janu, a wealthy Mahar of Paras in Balapur taluk, caused a boarding-house to be opened a few years ago so that Mahar boys from the country might attend the Akola schools. More recently a night-school, now attended by 32 adult Mahars, has been started; the funds were chiefly provided by natives of higher caste, and the scheme owes a great deal to Mr. Vishnu Moreshwar Mahajani. The town contains the ruins of a fortress and a wall; some of the gateways are still in good condition, but there are no buildings with striking associations. A Hindustani school called hawa-khana, taking the air, is held in a building in the highest part of the fort, and an old gun near by is fired at midday; a small tower on the north-west has a spike apparently meant for a gun to turn on. An inscription on the Dahihanda gate gives its date as 1114 Hijri, A.D. 1697, during the reign of the Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir when Nawab Asadkhan was minister Jagirdar in the time of Khwaja Abdul Latif.' Another on the Fatehburuj bastion near by has no exact date, but mentions the same Khwaja; the Emperor however is Shah Alam and the minister Asaf-ud-daula. One on the idgah, place of prayer, contains texts and a statement that the building was finished by Khwaja Abdul Latif in 1116 Hijri. A Marathi inscription on the gate called Agarwes says that it was built by Govind Appaji in, apparently, A.D. 1843. According to the Berar Gazetteer of 1870, p. 160, ' Akola may have got promoted above the ordinary rank of substantial villages about the beginning of the 18th century. It had for a long time been the headquarters of a sub- district before the British took charge of this country. There was one fight here (date uncertain) between the Nizam's forces and the Marathas; and in 1790 the Pindari Ghazi Khan got worsted before the town by the Bhonsla's commander; General Wellesley encamped at this place for a day in 1803 (going hence through Andura to Adgaon or Argaum). The people now (1870) say that the prosperity of the place was severely damaged some 30 or 40 years ago by the uncommonly bad administration of a talukdar, who robbed inordinately himself and did not keep off other robbers; so there was a great emigration to Amraoti.' An exhibition was held at Akola in 1868; the town is said to have been at that time almost in ruins, but Government cleared some of these away, built shops along newly planned streets, and sold the shops. A large square tomb stands on the north of the Shiwani road about a mile and a half from the town; it is said to mark the grave of a single military officer; several smaller European tombs lie near the town. The present kila, fortress, was built, according to tradition, by a naib calied Sale Muhammad Khan who held the tankhwah from the Nizam; it was dismantled by Government in about 1870. In 1842 or 1843 a great fight between Muhammadans and Rajputs seemed imminent at Akola. One cause of quarrel was that the Rajputs began to build a stone house on a platform near the east end of the bridge, still called Rajputonki gadhi; the khatib had given them the platform but said they had no right to do this. Presently the Rajputs killed a Muhammadan Momin, turban-maker, on the road to Barsi Takli, and then great forces of Muhammadans and Rajputs gathered from all parts of Berar. Troops belonging to the Contingent Force were brought from Ellichpur, and Khan Bahadur Muassan Sahib, Maulvi of Balapur, used his influence with the Muhammadans, and in the end the danger was averted. Muhammadans used to get a great deal of semi-military employment; thus until 1853 there was a guard of perhaps 15 men at every gate, and the English at first gave somewhat similar employment to daroga's. Formerly when a new Naib came he would call in a local Muhammadan with a few men as orderlies, and these would get the attendant perquisites till another Naib came and engaged someone else. For more serious work a force of about 50 Arabs used to be kept. In those days no Muhammadan went outside his house without being fully armed, nor did a Rajput, but practically no other Hindu carried any weapon. Brawls and fights used constantly to occur between Muhammadans of different muhallas, and between Muhammadans and Hindus at festivals, but the Rajputs, who were comparatively a small body, never fought among themselves. General Doveton was here for some months before he took Nagpur in 1817; the force was camped on the ground now occupied by the Deputy Commissioner's kacheri and the jail; it left behind such thousands of sharab bottles that the boys of two generations found the supply endless for stone throwing. A great flood happened in about 1833 and another, not quite as large, in about 1885. The kazi (Mirza Abbas Beg, khatib and naib-kazi), whose reminiscences have been largely used in this section, has seen the rent of certain fields rise from R. 1 to Rs. 100 an acre, the wages of an agricultural servant rise from Rs. 2 to Rs. 8 a month, and the price of jawari and ghi increase 75 per cent. According to tradition Akola was founded by Akolsing, a Rajput of Kanheri, a village six miles away, and took its name from him. The site of the town was covered with thick jungle and the only building was a temple of Mahadeo. Akolsing's wife used to visit the temple alone to worship the god, but her husband became suspicious of her motives and finally followed her with a drawn sword. When she found him at the door she prayed to the god to give her an eternal place of refuge; whereon the head of the image opened and she disappeared within it. Her husband was in time to grasp her sari, and the only trace left of her was a piece of the cloth which for years protruded from the head of the image. Akolsing mourned for his wife and made a settlement on the spot where he had last seen her. He moreover built an earthen gadhi, village-fort, on the place where the present kila stands; the spot was indicated to him by the prodigy of a hare pursuing a dog across it.

Akot Taluk.

Akot Taluk.-Akot taluk lies between 21° 16' N. and 20° 51' S. and between 77° 12' E. and 76° 46' W. It was first settled in 1868, when it contained 331 villages, but 71 villages were transferred to Daryapur taluk on the formation of the latter, and one village has been given to, and five villages have been received from, Jalgaon taluk. It now contains 264 khalsa and two jagir villages and has an area of 517 square miles, so that it is the smallest-though perhaps the richest-in the District. It is a compact tract roughly square in shape and with an average length from north to south of 26 miles and a breadth of 20 miles. On the north lies the Melghat taluk of Amraoti District, the boundary being marked by a line of fine ghats; a narrow tongue runs up in one place to the fortress of Narnala. The southern boundary is the Purna river, with Balapur and Akola taluks beyond it. On the east is the Daryapur taluk of Amraoti District and on the west the Jalgaon taluk of Buldana District. Akot taluk is almost entirely plain, though in the south a few nullahs running from east to west cause considerable depressions and the extreme north includes some of the rough ground at the foot of the Satpura ranges. The soil is deep, black, and free from stones through the greater part of the taluk, but a belt of six or eight miles in width along the north is stony and much lighter, falling in parts under the description of ' white' soil. The only large river is the Purna on the southern border, but 'a large number of small ones, dry for the greater part of the year, join it front the north. The Shahanur, which formerly flowed for some miles past Dahihanda and Kadholi, was diverted in the famine of 1896-1897 from the former village to join the Purna two miles away, and has from that time ceased to have a continuous current. Many of the small streams hold water for months near the hills, where the ground is much cut up by nullahs, but disappear in their lower courses. The Pathal, which is an example of this, also illustrates other characteristics of these rivers. It has changed its course in the last five years so much near Warur that 4 acres of good land have been washed out of two fields, survey numbers 26 and 27, and 8 acres have been left dry in the old bed. In one field a dam was built 17 or 18 years ago to hold up the water to supply cattle, but the stream has merely eaten away the soil on both sides and carried off about an acre of valuable land. Such large variations are however unusual. Many villages in the southern half of the taluk suffer severely from lack of water, complicated by the fact that throughout a large area water when found is likely to be too brackish to drink. In some cases drinking water is generally obtained only from shallow jhiras sunk in watercourses, and has during the hot weather to be fetched from a village two miles away, while cattle have to be sent even a greater distance. Occasional wells have been sunk both by the local boards and by pious individuals, but the difficulty is far from being removed. In the north of the taluk mango groves are frequent and country roads are sometimes lined strikingly with trees and flowers, but old men say that waste land, water, and trees have immensely decreased in the last 50 or 60 years. People at Pancha-gawhan point to one or two solitary trees as the sole survivors of a jungle between the village and the river which as children they feared to pass through, and similar reminiscences are given elsewhere. The taluk has been fully cultivated for many years, though irrigation is scarcely practised at all. Statistics for the last 6 years show that he area of the taluk is 331,000 acres, of which on an average 310,900 have been occupied for cultivation and 302,000 have been cropped. Jawari has 100,500 acres, cotton 178,000; and the rabi crops have 126,000 acres. Communications are distinctly good without being quite satisfactory. A good made road runs 28 miles south from Akot to the railway at Akola, 17 miles lying within the taluk. A made branch road, passing about two miles south-east of Panchagawhan and fording the Purna at Andura, connects this with Shegaon, with a length of 18 miles within the taluk. A third road runs north from Akot to Khatkali in the Melghat and bears a large timber traffic. A fourth, less carefully maintained, runs 10 miles north from Adsul to Telhara. The country roads of the taluk are generally excellent during the dry months, the soil being so fine over large areas that constant traffic fails even to cause awkward ruts, though there is apt to be a very great deal of dust. The taluk has an unusual number of large and wealthy villages; places with a population of more than 2000 number 38 in the whole District, but Akot taluk alone has 12-Akot, Hiwarkhed, Telhara, Mundgaon, Adgaon, Dahihanda, Belkhed, Akolkhed, Pathardi, Danapur, Malegaon, and Akoli Jagir. Most of these are described separately in the Appendix, but some are of little interest. Akolkhed (2525), Akoli (2089), and Panaj (1298) are two miles apart in the north-east of the taluk, and from 5 to 7 miles distant from Akot. Large villages have to a curious extent formed at short intervals across the north of the taluk; immigrants from the Central Provinces, known as Jhadiwalas, now help to continue the process; they are mostly labourers and petty artisans, but a few take fields on batai; their houses have a slightly different look from those of true Beraris. At Panaj the Muhammadans are said to be increasing in numbers and prosperity; they were not formerly important in the village. Akolkhed has about 200 families of Malis, 150 of Jhadiwalas (of different castes), and 120 of Kunbis; Akoli has about 100 families each of Kunbis, Malis, and Mahars, besides less numerous castes. Akoli is a jagir of Shri Sitaram Maharaj, whose sasthan, sacred place, is at Hyderabad, but no temple in his name stands in the village. Pathardi (2402) is 7 miles south-west of Akot. Manufactures are of little importance, but there are 21 factories for ginning and 5 for pressing cotton; and rough carpets are well made at Akot town. Weekly markets number 14 and, without being unusually numerous, are far more important here than in any other taluk. The largest are those at Akot, Mundgaon and Malegaon, the contracts for collecting dues in each of these selling for Rs. 4000 or more, but those at Asegaon (Rs. 1275), and Akoli Jagir (Rs. 1150) are also far larger than the average bazar of the District. The taluk has an extraordinary number of tombs and temples dedicated to saints, and most of these are the sites of annual fairs; the largest is that at Narsingboa's temple in Akot in Kartik (October-November) The original Settlement came into force in the year 1868-1869, when most villages in the north were rated at Rs. 2-4 and most in the south at Rs. 2, but a few were rated at R. 1-12. A revision settlement came into force in 1898-1899; the new rates varied from Re. 1-14 to Rs. 2-12, but the most common was Rs. 2-10; the land revenue in the year 1907-1908 was Rs. 612,344, which is more than is yielded by any other taluk in the District. Police stations are to In-situated at Akot, Hiwarkhed, Telhara, and Dahihanda. Government schools in 1908 numbered 51, with a combined average attendance of 2300.

Akot Town.

Akot Town.-The town of Akot is the headquarters of the taluk of the same name and is situated 28 miles north of Akola. A first-class road under the Public-Works Department joins the two. It crosses a few considerable undulations in the south of Akot taluk, but none of these is sufficient' to cause much difficulty to traffic. The ford cf and ascent from the Purna river, in the tenth mile from Akola, cause more inconvenience, but are not a serious difficulty during the greater part of the year. The population of Akot was 14,006 in 1867, 16,137 in 1881, 15,995 in 1891, and 18,252 in 1901. Besides other institutions the town has a dispensary, an Anglo-vernacular school with a ninth standard, a new boarding-house which cost Rs. 13,000, and bazars on Wednesdays and Sundays, the latter having sales estimated at Rs. 30,000. A municipality was founded in 1884; its income and expenditure amount to Rs. 16,000 or Rs. 17,000. The town contains a cotton market and ten ginning and four pressing factories; the value of the cotton bales exported from them is said to be Rs. 5,00,000. Sahukari, moneylending and investment, is carried on largely, and there is a considerable trade in timber from the Melghat. Good carpets of a plain make are manufactured, the daily bazars are fairly large and busy, and petty industries, such as a primitive kind of rope-making, are carried on. Approaching from Akola one passes first through a belt of factories which give a large idea of the business of the town; the shopping centres have a characteristic mark of city life in a tea vendor with a chula, a kind of tin urn, and a charcoal stove. The town consists of three revenue villages, Jogaban, Chinchkhed, and Kamlapur, and is fairly compact, though a part on the south-east, called Somwarpeth, is separated from the rest by the Khai nullah. The houses used to be mostly thatched but are now generally tiled, the walls being usually of mud but sometimes of brick; almost every house has its own well. Akot has long been of some little importance; it had a mud wall and six gates which have now disappeared; the tahsili stands in what used to be the fortress, kila, and has a lofty brick gate as an entrance; a considerable proportion of the people are Muhammadans. The most striking buildings are some old private houses, the residences of former officials, which have fine wood-carving on a large scale. The best is perhaps Diwakar Bhau's diwankhana, but the havelis of Sardar-sing, who is said to have been in command of Narnala fortress, and of the Fadnavis, who is said to have been in financial charge of the taluk on behalf of the Bhonslas (with the duty, for instance, of paying the Pindari bands), are also good. The latter building has large and strong cellars which were possibly meant for defensive purposes. The sardeshmukh, or chief deshmukh, says that a long underground passage leads from his house to a distant garden. A small hill, called after the tomb of Pir Shah Darya Sahib and having a mosque upon it, was the scene of an attack by the local Rajputs upon the Muhammadans. It happened that a Muhammadan upon the hill jested with a Rajput woman on the roof of a house close by. That night a band of Rajputs came to the gateway in the wall that surrounded the hill, declared that they were Muhammadans, and asked to be admitted. When the door was opened they made a sudden rush and killed a number of the Muhammadans. A less credible story says that an underground passage used to lead from a well, now fallen in, upon the top of the hill to Narnala, 11 miles away, and that this was proved by the sole survivor of a score of sheep turned loose at Narnala appearing at the bottom of the well. Akot has also some buildings of religious interest. Close to the Akola road on one side is the domed tomb of Gada Narayan, which is very much like the ghumat at Dharud, while on the other is the smaller tomb of Mir Najar Karoda with a resident fakir. Both of these, and the jama masjid, which is not striking, have Persian inscriptions. Gada Narayan was considered a saint by both Muhammadans and Hindus, so that the two religions have joined in giving him a double name, but his personality is now forgotten and his tomb neglected. A descendant of Mir Najar Karoda has an inam for the Second tomb and maintains a small urus, sacred gathering, but again nothing is known about the saint. The tomb of Gaibi Pir close by has a reputation fox removing colds and fevers, for which people vow bread and vegetables to the pir. Hindu temples are fairly numerous and of some size, but not very fine. That of Nandi Bag has a bull carved in black stone with a fresh gairland round its neck; there is a large but plain step-well close by. A temple to Nana Sahib of Patur is covered with pictures. Other temples are dedicated to Balaji and to Keshaoraja. The most important however is that of Narsingboa, about whom the Gazetteer of 1870 says, p. 192, 'The holy man now in the flesh at Akot has only taken over the business, as it were, from a Muhammadan fakir, whose disciple he was during life; and now that the fakir is dead Narsingboa presides over the annual veneration of his slippers '-a veneration which still continues. The saint died in 1887 and the building, which was erected by Maroti Ganesh Asalkar at a cost of perhaps Rs. 25,000, was begun before his death. A festival, said to be attended by 20,000 or 25,000 people, is held in Kartik (October-November) and the presence of a Kitson light shows that it is managed with enterprise. Land measuring 120 acres has been made over for the support of the temple, and some income is also derived from a haveli, large private building, given by Maroti for use as a theatre. A printed life of Narsingboa gives an authoritative account of him. He was a Kunbi, but his mind had so marked a religious bent that in boyhood he used to be seen worshipping stones as gods. However he was married and had three children. He went daily to a Muhammadan saint, Kuwatali Shah of Umra, and learnt from him. The Muhammadan explained that the only difference between religions was that they named God differently, upon which the Kunbi became his disciple, standing before him as a sign of devotion for 21 days without taking food. Narsingboa's family had taken refuge in the strong village of Sirsoli, 5 miles from Umra, on account of the Pindaris, and one day news reached him that his mother was dead. Kuwatali Shah divined this and told him to go to her; upon his arrival and amid his lamentations life returned to the corpse and it comforted him and then expired again. Kuwatali Shah then sent him to live at Akot, where he used to spend the day in the jungle playing with the god Vishnu and in the evening would take a little food and smoke a chilam, earthen pipe. An atheist, nastik, once tried to destroy the image of Withoba at Pandharpur by a blow with a cannon-ball, and struck it upon the loot, which straightway began to bleed. Narsingboa, wearing only a turban of rags and a langoti, took the lead among the horrified worshippers. He applied medicine to the wound and prayed the image to heal itself, which it did, whereon faith was re-established and the atheist died. Gopala, a follower of Narsingboa, had in his cellar a treasure guarded by a spirit; but Narsingboa destroyed the spirit and brought forth the treasure. He offered it first to his faithful disciple, the sahukar Ganesh or Ganoba Naik, but the latter replied that the company of the saint was worth more than any treasure, so thev left it with Gopala. An incurably vicious cow was once offered to Narsingboa; he declined the gift but reproved the cow for conduct unbecoming in a goddess; whereon she became quiet and gave no further trouble. Once he bade the wife of Ganoba Naik to die, saying she had already enjoyed all that was good in life and further existence was unnecessary; either she or one of her sons must expire; and upon the day he fixed the pious woman breathed her last. Later he saved her granddaughter from dying during her marriage ceremony, ordering a cocoanut to be tied to her stomach till she recovered. Narsingboa took upon himself both a skin disease and an ear disease to save men who were suffering from them and came to him for relief. When Ganoba died his son Maroti went to Benares to perform funeral ceremonies, and Narsingboa gave him a brass ring with injunctions never to part with it. Maroti went to bathe in the river Yamuna and gave the ring to his sister to hold meanwhile, but she lost it. Maroti addressed the river saying he would drown himself if he could not recover the ring, whereupon the Yamuna appeared to him in the form of a woman and told him who had taken it and where it would be found. Narsingboa knew all this before Maroti returned. The saint finally died on a day he had foretold, and was buried, at his own command, in a pit just dug for the building of his temple. The body of a Phul Mali saint called Khida is buried near that of Narsingboa. It was only at the bidding of the latter that the corpse of Khida closed its eyes, and, again at the word of the greater saint, four years after burial it was still whole and ate a morsel of bread. The management of the temple funds is still in the hands of Maroti Ganesh.

Alegaon.

Alegaon.-Alegaon is a village on the river Nirguna in the south of Balapur taluk and 17 miles from Balapur. It had a population of 2707 in 1891 and 2848 in 1901. A considerable traffic in timber passes through it, so that timber is lying in open spaces everywhere; a weekly market is held on Sundays. Alegaon is a place of pilgrimage for Manbhaus, and especially, it appears, for the Bhoyars among them, the adherents who have not wholly separated themselves from worldly life or donned black garments. Fairs are held on Chaitra Purnima (April-May) and Kartik Purnima (October-November), when pilgrims come from places 50 or 100 miles distant and sometimes even from Nagpur. The objects of reverence are two temples, one of Walkeshwar Maharaj on the bank of the Nirguna and one of Uttareshwar in the gaokos, within the old village wall. It is said that an incarnation of Krishna passed through the village on his way from Iswi in Mehkar taluk, ate some walka fruit by the river-side, and left on the north (utar).

Ansing.

Ansing.-Ansing is about 15 miles south-east of Basim; the Pusad road passes about half a mile from it and a metalled road branches off to the village. Ansing was the head of a pargana, and a large road formerly passed through, it. The population was 1965 in 1891 and 2087 in 1901. The name is derived from that of the rishi Shringa, to whom a temple on a deserted gaothan half a mile away is dedicated The building was apparently of a plain Hemadpanthi style originally but has gone through a rather nondescript restoration. The villagers have within recent years bought six fields for its support, the total income being however only Rs. 75 or Rs. 80. Water can always be got in a large plain step-well close by or in a nala adjoining. A saticha hat, sati's forearm, is carved on the side of the well, and a shrine dedicated to her stands near, but no particulars about her are known. The reason for carving only an arm in memory of a sati is not generally known but is said by some to be that the arm, protected by bangles, is not consumed; the body of the original Sati, who killed herself on account of a quarrel between her father Daksha and her husband Shiva, was torn limb from limb by the latter and fell in 51 different pitha-sthanas, and this may have some significance. Land in the neighbourhood is very light, often consisting of a span of earth with khadak, rock beneath, so that much of it is assessed at only As. 8, though some rises to R. 1-8. The Dangrala tank, which was cleaned in the famine of 1899-1900, holds water throughout the year and three others hold water for some months, but the supply is insufficient. The village has a police station, a school with four standards, and a weekly market. A short history of it was compiled by the village officers in about 1854, but the record states merely that from 1810 to 1837 it was the hands of nine successive maktedars, revenue contractors, each of whom 'populated the village by means of jamadars', that is, sent out men to compel unwilling cultivators to come and live there. From 1838 to 1844 it was held by Messrs. Pestonji and Company, who seem to have leased out land on favourable terms, and though a different contractor appears for almost every year till the Assignment of 1853 it is merely recorded that they ' recovered rental.'