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PLACES
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ANJANGAON SURJI
Anjanganv Surji is a town in Daryapur tahsil with a popula- tion of 21,931 according to the Census of 1961. In fact Anjangariv and Surji are two large villages very near to each other in the north of Daryapur tahsil. But they have been brought under the fold of a single municipality. Legend connects the name of Anjanganv with Krsna's triumph over Rukmi and Surji also known as Peth Muhammad Nagar after a Musalman fakir, is said to be a corruption of Suranji, a tree with which the place was formerly overgrown. The public buildings of the town include a police station, sub-registrar's office, pancayat samiti office, a branch office of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, post and telegraph office, a telephone exchange, and a rest house. Anjanganv Surji has two high schools, five middle schools (one Urdu and four Marathi), five Marathi primary schools, of which again two are for girls, and one Urdu primary school for girls. In 1963-64 the combined strength of all these schools was well over 4,660. The town has adequate medical facilities, there being a hospital, a primary health centre, a leprosy prevention centre, a family planning centre and a veterinary dispensary.
Anjangariv Surji is an important centre producing betel and bidi leaves. A daily market dealing in betel leaves is held and these are sent largely to places like Poona and Bombay. The weekly bazar brings in an annual cess of Rs. 15,500. About 5,000 weavers live in Anjangariv and they produce saris, colkhans, dhotis, khadis and turbans. There arc 1,100 handlooms and 35 powerlooms working at Anjangariv, the weavers having organised themselves into a co-operative society. There are four gin presses and two markets, one for cotton and the other for grains, respectively. There is a Co-operative Central Bank and a Sale-Purchase Union.
The town is connected with both Daryapur and Acalpur by good roads. Anjangariv holds an important place in the Anglo-Indian history for it was here that the second Maratha war was concluded. The treaty with the Nagpur Raja was signed on 23rd December 1803. On the same day negotiations between the British and the Sindes commenced, the British being represented by Sir A. Wellesley, Sir J. Malcolm and Mountstuart Elphin-stone, and Marathas by Vitthal Pant. It was he to whom Wellington afterwards compared Talleyrand saying that the great
Frenchman was like the Brahman ' but not so clever. [See Kaye's "Life of Malcolm", Vol. I, pp. 240 and 242.] The
treaty was concluded and ratiiied on 30th of December 1803, and
was described by Wcllesley in a private letter to his brother as
a glorious and brilliant termination to the war and equal to the lustre of the campaign".
The Despande family of Anjanganv was presented with a copy of the treaty in recognition of their hospitality; but this was destroyed in 1850 by the Rohilla troops of Ghulam Hasan Khan, the Navab of Ellicpur (now called Acalpur). This worthy was at open war with the Munsif of Akot, Sayyid Sirajud-din-Hasan, [Afterwards Sadarus Sadur or Sessions Judge under British rule.] The armies met at Anjanganv and the Navab was almost beaten. His adversaries, however, turned their attention to plunder and in a plucky rally he won the day. ' Hundreds of Rajputs ', writes a local historian 'were killed by the guns of Thomas Brown', an adventurer in the service of the Navab. Seonath Rangopant, the great Marathi poet and religious teacher, was born at Anjanganv, but his fame was acquired elsewhere.
The town has one math, viz., that of Devnath Maharaj. Well-irrigation is widely prevalent and many an agriculturist has installed electric pumps on the wells which has greatly facilitated lift irrigation.
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