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PLACES
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PINJAR
Pinjar, lies among low rough hills in the south-east of Akola tahsil 22 miles
from Akola in 20° 30' north latitude and 77° 15' east longitude. It is surrounded by the remains of a fairly strong wall and has a brick killa, fort, both in ruined conditions It has a post office, a middle school and an allopathic dispensary. River and wells form the main source of water supply. A weekly market is held on every Thursday. It has a police station too, the jurisdiction of which extends over 84 villages,
The village is chiefly remarkable for a Hemadpanti temple dedicated to kapileshvar of considerable size in a very good state of preservation, though some details strongly suggest a judicious rebuilding or restoration at an early date. A long inscription, apparently in Sanskrit, is carved on a stone in a shrine in the courtyard. Near by is a large Hemadpanti step-well known as chaubari vihir, the square well.
Pinjar was the headquarters of a pargana and is said once to have had 2,000 houses but to have declined on account of a heavy tax levied by Mudhoji Bhosle in 1772 A. D.; it contained 700 houses in 1867; in 1901 there were 612 houses with 2565 people. In the tussle that ensued between the jamadars of Panchagavhan and Pinjar with regard to some marriage relations, Krishnaji Govind sided with Pinjar and capturing the jamadar of Panchagavhan, oppressed the people. He did not even heed the advice of Janoji
Bhosle. So Janoji removed Krishnaji Govind from the subnet of" Berar and appointed Mausingrav Mohite in his place. A temple of Vithoba, of some size, was built several generations ago by an ancestor of Waman Saoji, sahukar of the village who himself spent over Rs. 2,000 in '908 on its restoration. The builder had dreamt that if a temple was erected in the village, worship there would be as at Pandharpur, and there would be no need to make a long pilgrimage to the latter place. A dargah, Muhammedan tomb, is known by the name of Shamsuddin Wali; his ghost is said, at irregular intervals, to appear at midnight, clad in green and riding a white horse in a procession; and it is held due to his favour that plague has never visited the village. Shamsuddin is said to have prevented a dome being built over his tomb.
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