PLACES

ADGAON

Adgaon is a village in Akot tahsil situated nine miles to the west of Akot the tahsil headquarters. It is a railway station on the Akola-Purna metre-gauge line of the Central Railway. It has, as per the Census of 1971, a population of 5,212 souls. The Janapada Indian English Middle School and the primary schools both conducted by the Zilla Parishad cater to the educational needs of the village populace. Wells form the main source of water supply. The medicinal facilities are provided by the private medical practitioners and an Ayurvedic dispensary conducted by the Zilla Parishad. The village is of historical importance.

History : It was the head of a pargana when the Ain-i-Akbari was compiled. It has an earthen fort in which a naib was stationed under the Nizams. The pargana was included in Akot tahsil in 1865.

The great battle of Adgaon was fought on 29th November 1803 near Shirsoli, three miles south of Adgaon between the Marathas and the English and it was this battle that decided the late of the Maratha confederacy. The Maratha guns played havoc among the English army forcing them to flee. But the English army led by General Wellesiey collected their forces again and attacked the Marathas. In the last action the Marathas were defeated and ultimately Raghuji Bhosle entered into a treaty with the English which was signed at Devagaon near Ellichpur on 17th December 1803. The eye witness account of the encounter collected at the time of the publication of the old gazetteer is repsuduced below. 'Shirsoli 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 fat. The Gazetteer of 1870 says, 'A deep ravine of watercourse is still shown which lay across the rear of the broken army and checked their contused retreat until they had been sufficiently sabred by cavalry and pounded by guns. Old men say that Shirsoli 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 Bhosles fleeing toward Narnala, killed first his children and then himself." Adgaon and the surrounding areas were subject to Pendhari depredations in the same year.

Adgaon contains little of interest. The old Akola District Gazetteer published in 1910 states:

A number of temples exist, but none are large or striking; that of Dvarakeshvar, built outside the village in 1080 Fasli. (A. D. 1671) by a Gaoli called Dvarki who was an officer of the Bhosles, has two elephants fairly well carved over the doorway the shrine of Dattatreya, built recently by Alarm Manbhau is known for the relief of people possessed by evil spirits."

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