PLACES

BHANDARA

Bhandara, is the headquarters of the district to which it gives its name and lies in latitudte 21° 10' north and longitude 79° 40' east on the Wainganga river to which the Sur, rising in the Ramtek tahsil of Nagpur district, meets about a mile from the town. The town is 40 and 560 miles distant from Nagpur and Bombay, respectively, and has a station, Bhandara Road, on the Nagpur-Howrah railway route, about seven miles distant. It has the additional advantage of the Great Eastern Road, now known as Bombay-Calcutta National Highway passing through it. There are post, telegraph and telephone facilities. These facile means of transport and communications have in no small measure contributed to the growing prosperity of the town. Bhandara had a population of 39,423 in 1971, of which males numbered 20,651 and females 18,772.

Bhandara is a corruption of Bhanara, a name by which the local people still call the town. A reference to Bhanara is found in an inscription of 1100 A.D. traced at Ratanpur, the chief of Bhanara having been at that time a feudatory of the Haihayavanshi kings of Ratanpur. The town is thus an old one, and in view of this inscription, the popular belief that the derivation is from bhana, a brass dish, based on the fact that the town has a substantial brass-working industry, appears to be baseless. In the second half of the thirteenth centuary A.D. Bhandara was visited by Shri Chakradhara, the founder of the Mahanubhava sect. The Sthana-pothi of the Mahanubhavas mentions the house of a Brahmana named Nilabhata, which is still shown at Bhandara. The work also mentions the tank on the north of the town and the temple of Narasimha situated on its western bank. According to another version of the Sthana-pothi, there was a temple of Shiva also near the tank. The town is named Bhandara in the Sthana-pothi.

Prior to 1820 the district was administered from Lanji. Thereafter the headquarters were shifted to Bhandara when a European Officer was appointed Superintendent under the Regency of Sir Richard Jenkins. The town is well laid out with broad streets, the main street being the road to the station which meets the Bombay-Calcutta highway at the district office. There is a circuit road of six miles round the town.

Municipality.—Bhandara was created a municipality in 1867, the area under its jurisdiction now being 6.3 square miles. The municipal committee is composed of 24 members, 22 elected and two co-opted.

Income and Expenditure: "the average municipal income during the decade ending 1901 was Rs. 35,000. In 1904-05 the income was Rs. 32,000, being principally derived from octroi and a water-rate. In 1968-69 the total municipal income derived from various sources, excluding a sum of Rs. 1,14,083 as income derived from extraordinary and debt heads, amounted to Rs. 12,36,604. The expenditure during the same year, excluding a sum of Rs. 1,44,786 incurred on account of extraordinary and debt heads, stood at Rs. 11,93,524. The principal items of expenditure were general administration and collection charges, and public health, safety, convenience and instruction.

Medical Aid, Drainage and Water Supply: A Government conducted General Hospital with a capacity of 99 beds provides medical aid. An x-ray machine and two operation theaters for major and minor operations are also porvided. For T. B. patients a special ward of 10 beds is attached. The district as a whole and Sakoli and Gondia tah.sils in particular has a large number of leprosy patients. With a view to checking this disease a leprosy subsidiary centre has been opened at Bhandara too. Bhandara has a maternity home and an ayurvedic dispensary also. Under the National Malaria Control Programme D. D. T. spraying is done periodically. The veterinary dispensary of the town with an artificial insemination centre attached to it is conducted by the municipality. The drainage system consists of stone lined surface drains kept in order by the sanitary staff. " The water supply of the town is obtained from the Wainganga river. Three filtration wells have been sunk in the bed of the river and water is carried from them to a service reservoir near the jail, from which it is distributed over the town in pipes. The works were opened in 1900, the cost of the scheme being Rs. 1.84 lakhs and the annual maintenance charges Rs. 6,000. A large proportion of the cost was raised by local subscriptions, the zamindar of Kamtha, Indraraj Bhau, contributing Rs. 55,000 [Central Provinces District Gazetteers, Bhandara District, 1908 ed., p. 192.]. Although the water supply scheme was subsequently expended, the supply falls far short of the demand. A new scheme, to be undertaken on the same river, has therefore been submitted for Government approval. It is estimated to cost Rs. 11 lakhs.

Education : Primary education is looked after by the municipality. It is compulsory. There are four balak mandirs and 14 primary schools. The town has seven secondary school's, of which two are maintained by Government and one by the Municipality. Of the high schools, the Manro High School, named after the then Director of Public Instruction, was opened in 1904 by Mr. Joshi, a well known citizen of the town. The number of colleges is three.

On the banks of the Wainganga river a cremation ground is maintained by the municipality; besides there are two burial grounds.

Manufacturers, Trade.—Brass-working is not only the principal industry of the town but it is also the most ancient. Until the end of the 19th century Kasars who originally migrated from North India and Panchals from the south were the only ones engaged in this industry. However, as the industry began to prosper with mechanisation, others also entered the field. Bhandara has at least four large-scale and numerous small-scale units manufacturing a variety of brass-ware such as cups, plates, gunds and gangals or water-vessels. It has become one of the principal marts supplying brass-ware to the whole of Khandesh and Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh and Tatanagar. Bidi-making is another industry of note, there being two large scale factories and many small-scale ones. Another industry which employs a substantial number of people is the weaving of silk-bordered cloths. Dhotis and saris, uparanas or shoulder cloths and loin cloths are generally woven. Silver-gilt thread is sometimes embroidered on the borders, and clothes consisting wholly of silk are made to order. These goods find demand in the neighbouring districts, in Bombay and Hyderabad. The town has also a few cotton ginning and pressing factories, rice and flour mills, oil presses and saw mills. An industrial estate has been set up recently. The town is a wholesale trade centre for the collection and export of agricultural product'. There is a regulated market provided with all the essential amenities and facilities such as a market yard, cattle-shed, water troughs, rest-house, fencing, etc. Weekly markets, at which cattle are also sold, are held on Wednesday Friday and Sunday. A daily vegetable market is also provided.

Remains.— Two antique Hemadpanti temples, dedicated to Ambai and Nimbai, or the goddesses of the mango and nim trees, stand in the centre of the town. An old fort which is said to have been built by a Gaoli king is now converted into a sub-jail. Also ascribed to the Gaolis is a tank called the Khamb Talav and the pillar in its centre is said to have been the one to which their bullocks were tied. It, however, appears that in reality it is the ordinary sacrificial post erected for worship when the tank was finished. Some temples stand on the banks of the tank. In the Mendha ward of the town are two large images of Maruti and Ganapati, and close to them is a math or monastery known as Alon Baba Ka Math. This contains four old temples in which are images of Narayan, Lakshmi, and Mahadev. The monastery was founded by one Chatarnath Gosain of the Giri order, who came to be known as Alon Baba, from the fact that he did not consume salt. This practice of abstaining from salt-eating is still kept up by his successors. Near the math there are numerous samadhis or graves of the Gosains. The math had formerly a grant of seven or eight villages for its maintenance. A Hemad panti temple of Pinglai containing a fine image of that goddess stands in the suburb called after the goddess. On the birth of a boy and a girl respectively the Kamtha zamindars used to offer a goat and a cocoanut at this temple. The tonsure ceremonies of their children were invariably performed at this temple. An annual fair with a wrestling competition was formerly held in honour of Pinglai goddess. Near the town are two takias or tombs of Muhammedan saints and feasts for the dead are held annually in August or September. The town has a good garden, a fountain known as Fraser ornamental fountain, two cinema theatres and an open air theatre.

Miscellaneous.—Since Bhandara is the district headquarters, there are besides the revenue offices, Zilla Parishad, District Superintendent of Police, Civil and Criminal Court, Buildings and Communications, Forest, Soil Conservation and various other official establishment of the different Government departments. There are a rest-house and a circuit house.

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