PLACES OF INTEREST

MAHEJI OR CHINCHKHED.

Maheji or Chinchkhed (Pachora taluka, 20° 45' N, 75° 20' E, p 1,292), three miles west of the Maheji railway station (Bombay-Itarsi line) is the scene of the chief fair in the district. The fair held every year for over a week is attended by six to eight thousand people. Maheji, the woman in whose honour the fair is held, is said to have lived about 280 years ago. A Tilola Kunbi of Hivri, ten miles south-east of Jamner, she suffered such ill-treatment at the hands of her father and mother-in-law, that she fled from her home and became an ascetic. Taught by a holy man on Turanmal hill, she wandered through the country and gained so great a name for sanctity, that even in her lifetime vows were paid to her. At last she settled at Chinchkhed, and after living there for twelve years, buried herself alive. A temple, the present building, a rough structure twenty-five feet by eighteen and twenty-eight high, was raised, and a yearly fair established on the fifteenth of Pauslia Shuddha (January-February). The fair is said to owe its importance to the successful issue of a vow made by the head of the Pavar house. The number of devotees increased, and traders, finding order and freedom from taxation, flocked to it in numbers. Then came the ruin of 1803, and for four years there was no fair. As order was restored, the business of the fair increased. In 1833 it was taken under Government management, booth sites were allotted to the different dealers, and as order was carefully kept and the roads were well guarded, large numbers again assembled. [The fair is described in 1837 as bringing large numbers of people. Merchants from the coast came to meet inland traders and exchange goods. The trading went on for about a month. Or. Chris Spec. VIII. 196]

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