PLACES OF INTEREST

PAROLA.

Parola (20°50' N, 75°03' E; R. S. Amalner, m. 11; p. 15,605), the headquarters of Parola taluka, is eleven miles south of Amalner railway station (Surat-Bhusaval line) It is a centre of hand-loom weaving and is noted for its saris, lugdis, and other female garments for which Parola weavers have a high local name. From November to June there is a considerable trade in cattle, cotton and grain.

Of the total population of 15,605 according to the Census figures of 1951. the agricultural classes number 4,828 and the non-agricultural 10,781. Of the latter, 4,552 persons derive their principal means of livelihood from professions other than cultivation; 2,324 persons from commerce; 271 persons from transport; and 3.634 persons from other services and miscellaneous sources.

Parola is a municipal town. It has an area of four square miles. The Parola municipality was established in 1864 and is now governed by the Bombay District Municipal Act (III) of 1901. The municipal council consists of 20 councillors. Two seats are reserved for women and one each for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Besides the managing committee, the municipality also has a dispensary and school committees.

For the year 1956-57, the total income of the municipality, excluding extraordinary and debt heads amounted to Rs. 1,72,770, composed of octroi. Rs. 29.630; property tax, Rs. 39,108; other municipal rates and taxes, Rs. 15,466; revenue derived from municipal property and powers apart from taxation, Rs. 21,946; grants and contributions. Rs. 39,465; and miscellaneous, Rs. 27,155. The total expenditure for the same year, excluding extraordinary and debt heads, was Rs. 1,48,066 comprising general administration and collection charges, Rs. 36,556; public safety (fire and lighting), Rs. 2,599; public health and conservancy, Rs. 64,222; library, Rs. 6,489; and miscellaneous Rs. 38,200.

The chief source of water-supply is public wells. There are nearly 50 public wells in the town. The inhabitants use the water from these wells for drinking and other domestic purposes. There are some tanks around the fort, and water from these and the public wells is used for watering roads. There are open pucca gutters within municipal limits which are drained into a nala running through the centre of the town.

There is compulsory primary education managed by the District School Board, the municipality paying its statutory contribution towards the expenditure. The municipality does not manage any high school, but there is one high school under the control and management of the Nagarik Education Society. The municipality is running a well-equipped library situated near the municipal building. There is a free reading room and books are lent for a nominal subscription.

For fighting fire the municipality has built reservoirs for storing water in different parts and the other necessary equipment is also kept ready.

Out of the 12 miles of road within the municipal area nearly three miles and two and a half furlongs are asphalted and three miles of road are water-bound macadam with pavements made of bricks and stones. The rest are made of earth and are motor-able in fair weather only.

The municipality maintains a pucca built mutton market and a vegetable market. There is also a slaughter-house.

There is a dispensary run by the municipality on the Dhulia-Jalgaon Road. The services of a medical officer are lent by the Government to the municipal dispensary. The veterinary dispensary in the town is managed by the District Local Board, towards which the municipality pays a yearly grant varying between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 1.500.

The municipality manages nine municipal cremation and burial grounds. Of these, six are for Hindus, one for Muhammedans (at Pir Darwaja), one for Bohoris (at Gondhalwada), and one for Christians (at Kumbharwada).

The chief object of interest is the fort, situated on the plain, built about 230 years ago (1727) by Jahgirdar Hari Sadashiv Damo-dar. It is still one of the finest architectural remains of its kind in the district, and must at one time have been a place of great strength. Built of stone and mortar, about 525 feet long by 435 broad, it is surrounded by a moat widened towards the east into a reservoir with steps on three sides, those on the west being of the same date as the fort, and those on the east not so old. The entrance was formerly protected by a draw-bridge of rafters and large flanking towers. Inside the fort were additional fortifications, and the proprietor's mansion was very strongly built of stone and mortar with a square opening in the centre, all the rest being terraced over, not unlike the Shanivarvada at Poona. [ Military Insp. Rep. 1S45.] After 1857 the proprietor was dispossessed and the fort dismantled. Nothing now remains except the wails and one large building, the lower part of which is occupied by the Public Works Department and the upper one by the municipal office. The ditch, said at one time to have been kept full of water all the year round is now dry during the hot weather. Outside the town are several old mosques, and not far from the fort is a graceful minaret, like those on the Burhanpur road. To the east of the fort is a plain shrine dargah called Imam Badshah's dargah containing the tombs of two brothers Imam and Badshah. The building is thirty-one feet square and fifteen high, with a small spire at each corner of the roof and a large spire in the centre. The lower part of the building is of plain stone, the upper one of cement-covered brick and lime. It is said to have been built by the Hindu Jahgirdar Sadashiv Damodar. Every year in the month of Shravan (August) fair is held for three days.

Of Hindu buildings the chief are a temple of carved stone to Ram, a second sacred to Mahadev, and a third to Bhavani. The Svami's temple at Parola is a fine stone building twenty-four feet square, with a brick spire highly ornamented with cement figures, the whole being forty feet high. It is said to have been built by Trimbakrav Sadashiv Jahgirdar. Another temple to Jhapata Bhava also attributed to Trimbakrav Sadashiv, contains four-handed images of Ganapati and of Devis, and an elegant highly ornamented canopy, chhatri. A yearly fair is held in Vaishakh (May). The temple is fifty-eight feet long by fifty-six broad, and over the shrine has a spire thirty-five feet high. Like the Svami's temple the body of the building is of stone and the spire of brick. About a quarter of a mile out of Parola on the Dhulia road, a very graceful canopy, chhatri, stone below and brick above, thirty-three feet high and twelve feet square at the base, enshrines an impression of the foot, Paduka, of Girdhar Sheth Balaji Vale.

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