PLACES

KARAD

Karad (17° 15' N, 74° 10' E; RS. p. 25, 721) properly Karhad, at the junction of the Krshna and the Koyna thirty-one miles south of Satara, is a very old town, the head-quarters of the Karad taluka. Approaching Karad from any side two tall minarets, like chimneys rising out of what appears as dead level plain, strike the eye. Coming close, the town appears situated at the junction of the Krshna and Koyna rivers, the Koyna having turned almost north and the Krshna running about south-east. On joining the two rivers flow eastward for a couple of miles, when the course turns south. Thus the banks on which Karad is situated form a right angle against the apex of which the Krshna rushes at full tilt. The north-west side of the town is in places from eighty to a hundred feet high above the Koyna, overhung with bushes and prickly pear. The northern side is rather lower and less steep, the slope being broken by the steps or ghats bending down to the river. Six miles to the north-west is the fort of Vasantgad hidden by the ends of the spur which branch out beyond it to within three miles of the town. Four miles north-east, the flat-topped hill of Sadasivgad is in full view, while the same distance to the south-east is the peak of Agasiv about 1,200 feet above the plain which crowns the north-west arm, honeycombed with Buddhist caves, of the spur which forms the south-west wall of the Kole valley. These hills are more or less bare, though green is struggling up the hollow. But the soil below is some of the most fertile in the district and green with crops to the end of February. The high red banks of the Koyna, the broad rocky bed and scarcely less lofty banks of the Krshna with broad pools of water at the very hottest season fringed with babhuls or overhung by the irregular buildings of the town, the hills filling up the distance on every side, with a clear atmosphere and the morning and evening lights make up an interesting view. The Koyna is crossed by a lofty bridge which is best seen from the north-west angle of the town where it is viewed obliquely and at a little distance, the irregular Agasiv spur gives a good back ground. No less than five roads, the Poona-Belganv, Karad-Ciplun, Karad-Tasganv, Karad-Bijapur and Karad-Masur, meet at Karad. The Karad-Bijapur and Karad-Masur roads enter the town from the left and the others from the right bank of the Krshna. The town covers an area of about one mile square and is surrounded, except where the rivers bound it, by rich black soil lands. It is therefore, crowded and, except on the south-east, has little room for extension. At the north-west angle is the mud fort originally Muhammedan if not earlier, and subsequently the place of the Pant Pratinidhi until his power was wrested from him by the Peshvas in 1807, Next to the fort area the set of steps or ghats and temple at the junction of the two rivers, the eddies of which have accumulated a huge bed of gravel and sand. To withstand their force a large masonry revetment was built in ancient times, remains of which still exist. In this the north-west are the sub-divisional revenue and police offices.

Temples.

There are in all fifty-two chief temples in Karad, none of them of much antiquity or beauty. The largest are those of Krshnamai Devi and Kashivishveshvar on the Krshna ghat and Kamaleshvar Mahadev half a mile further down the river. They mostly consist of the usual mandap or hall and gabhara or sanctuary with brick shikhars or spires adorned with rough figures in stucco. The ghats consist of three chief flights, one bending from the north-west and another from the north end of the principal street. These have been built chiefly by voluntary contributions from the inhabitants. Much has been done by the Pant Pratinidhi and a good deal by devotees, rich tradesmen, and others, ' while a handsome addition was made by Narayanrav Anant Mutalik, the descendant of the hereditary chief officer of the Pratinidhis. A third flight is the end of a roadway brought eastward from the municipal garden. It was built by the municipality and is made of excellent masonry. Although the temples singly are of no great beauty, yet the groups of them at the ghats look very picturesque. The ground is terraced and adorned with fine old trees chiefly tamarind and pimpal.

Fort.

The mud fort of the Pratinidhi occupies a space of about a hundred yards square at the north-east angle of the town. Its frontage is to the east and towards the chief street from which it is entered by a broad flight of steps. The steps pass through two gateways crowned with music chambers or nagarkhanas, and flanked by two large bastions. Inside are a number of buildings, the chief of which is the vada or mansion of the Pant Pratinidhi. It is a two-storeyed building in the usual open court in Maratha style. Time and natural elements have acted upon mansion of the Pant Pratinidhi which now stands in a ruined condition. The only remarkable thing about it is an extra quadrangle on the south side of which is a fine hall of audience measuring eighty-three feet by thirty-one feet and about fifteen feet high. It consists of a central nave fourteen feet wide and two side aisles. The east end contains a canopy for Bhavani Devi, in whose honour the hall was built. The ceiling is of teakwood, and ornamented with a lace work of wood and iron painted black. It was built about 1,800 by Kashibai, mother of Parashuram Shrinivas Pratinidhi. The rest of the quadrangle was completed in much the same style by the late Pratinidhi's father.

Step Well.

The most remarkable object in the fort is its step well. It lies near the west end of the fort which overhangs the Koyna river some eighty to a hundred feet, and is dug right down to the level of the river with which it communicates by a pipe. The opening at the top is 136 feet long. The west end of it is thirty-six feet square with the north-east corner rounded off for the purposes of a water-lift. The other 100 feet are for a magnificent flight of eighty-three steps leading down. The well must have been dug in softish material probably murum, and, to' prevent it falling in, it has been lined with excellent trap masonry in mortar, the sides slightly sloping from bottom outwards, each line of stones slightly protruding beyond the line above. At the end of each twenty steps is a landing about three times the width of each step. The flight of steps and the main shaft of the well are separated by two massive ogee archways, which, together with the mortar used in the masonry, seem to show that the work is Muhammedan. These archways are connected with each side of the well and form a massive block between the steps and shaft with the archways cut in them. The block is about seventy feet high and twelve feet thick, while the archways are about thirty feet and twenty feet high, the solid masonry above each of them being about ten feet in height. The sides also have their peculiar longitudinal rectangular grooves on a level with the three landings with ten semicircular transverse cuttings at regular intervals. The object of this, it is said, was to insert flooring along the grooves to be supported by transverse beams thrust into the cuttings, and thus convert the well into a three-storeyed underground building with communications between each storey by the flight of steps and between the shaft and step sections by the archways. What could have been the use of such a building, it is difficult to imagine. According to one story it was for ambuscade in case the fort was taken. But it looks more like an attempt to use the well, which was not often wanted for water-supply, for storage purposes. The well is now filled with mud. There is nothing else remarkable in the fort. It has twelve bastions two about the centre and one at each corner of its four sides which form nearly a rhombus with the acute angle at the north-east. The walls all vary according to the level of the ground inside from twenty to eight feet in height including a mud parapet six feet high and loopholed obliquely. The lower parts are of loose nibble and mud fully eight feet thick. But for the bastions the top level is uniform. Outside, the height varies with the ground from forty to nearly 100 feet at the highest point above the Koyna river. A huge retaining wall of mortared trap was formerly built at the west side round the north-west angle, mostly, it is said, in Musalman times. The greater part of it however, has been swept away, the last and worst damage within memory being done at the great flood of 1875. So tremendous is the force of the flood waters at the junction of the Krshna and the Koyna that it is a wonder the work has stood so long. Every year the river is damaging the west side and it is to be feared the curious step well may fall in as the damage increases. A small entrance leads from between two bastions to the Krshna and the small temple of Sangameshvar Mahadev probably the oldest at Karad.

Mosque.

The mosque and minarets of Karad are scarcely inferior in interest to the fort. Inscriptions show the date of its foundation and the builder to be one Ibrahim Khan in the time of the fifth Bijapur king Ali Adil Shah I. (1557-1580). The minarets, 106 feet high, are plain and cylindrical slightly tapering with an urn-like top. They rest on a massive ogee archway of plain masonry about thirty feet by fifteen feet with chambers in the sides and entered by a small low door which leads to an open space. On left or north is a plain square building for the shelter of travellers and mendicants and the bath or hamamkhana and on the right or south is the mosque. This is a building open to the east about forty-one feet by eighty-two and thirty feet high. But for the usual dome in the centre and eight pinnacles one at each corner and one at the centre of each side, it is flat-roofed outside. The outside is of plain smooth cut masonry with broad slabs for eaves supported by handsomely carved brackets. The east front consists of three ogee arches supported by square pillars, the two side ones plain and the centre one ornamented with frills and knobs. The roof rests from within on two more pillars, this making six compartments the roofing of each ornamented and slightly domed with vaulting sections. Between the pillars are four transverse arches similar to the longitudinal ones. The two central compartments are richly sculptured with floral and bead decorations and Arabic texts. In the centre of the west wall is a niche something like a recess with a long inscription in Arabic on black stone. There are in all nine inscriptions and texts on various parts of the walls.

Inscriptions.

One on a pillar records "Ibrahim Khan bin Kamil Khan bin Ismael Khan servant in the house of God;" The second, round a pillar records. "When the assistance of God shall come and the victory, and they shall see the people enter into the religion of God by troops, celebrate the praise of thy Lord and ask pardon of him, for he is inclined to forgive;" the third "During the time of Shah Ali Adil Shah, the shelter of all the people and the shadow of the favour of God -may he continue faithful and enjoy health and Khilat (or grant) to Ibrahim Kamil Khan, a friend of the family:" the fourth on another pillar records "The beggarly powerless and dust-like Pehelvan Ali bin Ahmad Ispahani, a servant of God in this house of God, Sunah 983 titled (?) Tuzyet Khan. Completed on this date. Pray for the welfare of the builder of this mosque;" the fifth an Arabic inscription on a pillar records "May God forgive its builder for the sake of Muhammad and his descendants;" the sixth also an Arabic inscription on the top of an arch records "I bear witness that there is certainly no God but God, that he is only one and that he has no sharers and I bear witness that Muhammad is certainly his servant and prophet;" the seventh is at the foot of an arch in Kuflic characters, which cannot be made out. On the top are the two remaining inscriptions recording "O Ali there is nobody young but Ali. There is no sword but the Zul Fikr [The Zul Fikr is the famous two-edged sword of Ali which Muhammad said he had received from the angle Gabriel.]. God send blessing to Muhammad the chosen (of God), Ali the approved, Hassan the elect (of God), Hussain who became a martyr at Kerbalah, Zainu'l Abidin Muhammad Bakar, Jafar, Sadik, Musa-ul-Kazim, Muhammad Taki Ali Naki, Hasan Ashkari, Muhammad Madhi. The most high and glorious God hath said: But he only shall visit the temples of God who believeth in God and the last day, and is constant at prayer, and payeth the legal alms, and feareth God alone. These perhaps may become of the number of those who are rightly directed" And 'Do ye reckon the giving drink to the pilgrims and the visiting of the holy temple to be actions as meritorious as those performed by him. who believeth in God and the last day and fighteth for the religion of God? The most high and glorious God hath said regularly perform thy prayer at the setting of the sun, and at the first darkness of the night and the prayer of daybreak, for the prayer of daybreak is borne witness unto by the angels, and watch some part of the night in the same exercise as a work of supererogation, for peradventure, the Lord will raise thee to an honourable station. And say, O Lord cause me to enter with a favourable entry and cause me to come forth with a favourable coming forth; and grant me from thee an assisting power. [Dr. Burgess' Antiquarian Lists, 60-61.] The mosque has a mulla attached. The tombs adjoining the municipal gardens are in honour of Musalman saints. One of them has a curious canopy on the top of its dome, and is not unhandsome. There are also two large masonry dargahs or mausoleums in the Guruvar Peth built in 1350 and 1391 (H.752 and 793) in honour of two Musalman saints. The idgah or prayer place is a wall about 250 feet long by thirty feet high, with a platform built about twenty-five feet off the ground for preaching purposes. The wall is built of stone below and brick for the last six feet above. It is about nine feet thick at the base and four feet thick at the top. Round the idgah is the old Musalman burial ground.

Flood, 1844.

Karad suffered severely in a heavy Krshna flood in 1844. A large part of the retaining wall at the north-west of the town was swept away and the water rose to within twenty feet of the top of the fort wall. The chief streets were flooded and the houses in front of the Pant's fort were all swept away. Much injury was done to the Ghats and temples on the river bank. A small stone temple of Maruti in the centre of the stream said to have been covered with the rain water year after year for two centuries was injured for the first time.

Caves.

The [Fergusson and Burgess' Cave Temples of India, 213-17.] Buddhist caves, which form the chief object of antiquarian interest in Karad, are in the hills to the south-west of the town the nearest being about two and a half miles from the town, in the northern face of one of the spurs of the Agasiv hill, looking towards the Koyna valley; the most distant group are in the southern face of another spur to the west of Jakhinvadi village, from three to four miles from Karad.

The caves were first described by Sir Bartle Frere in 1849, and arranged into three series: the southern group of twenty-three caves, near the village of Jakhinvadi; nineteen eaves, in the south-east face of the northern spur; and twenty-two scattered caves facing the Koyna valley. Besides these sixty-three caves there are many small excavations of no note and numerous water cisterns, often two to a single cave.

The absence of pillars in the large halls, the smallness of many of the excavations, the frequency of stonebenches for beds in the cells, the primitive forms of the chaityas, and the almost entire absence of sculpture in these caves, combine to show their early age. Unfortunately they are cut in a very coarse, soft, amygdaloid rock, on which inscriptions could not be expected to remain legible for long ages, if many of them ever existed; and only a portion of one has been found, with the faintest trace of another. The letters are rudely cut, but appear to belong to the same period as most of the Karle inscriptions of about the first or second century after Christ. From all such indications these caves may be placed approximately about the same age as those of Selarvadi or Garodi in Poona and Kuda and Pal in Kolaba, and not far from the age of the Junnar and Nasik caves [Compare Bombay Gazetteer, XI, 332-42, 345-48, XVI, 541-639 and XVIII Chapter xiv. Garodi and Junnar.].

They are mostly so small and uninteresting that they need not be described in detail, and only a few of the more noteworthy and characteristic may be noticed. In the first group, the most westerly Cave I, has had a verandah, perhaps with two pillars and corresponding pilasters; but it was walled up by a modern mendicant. Beyond this is a hall (22' X 11' X 7') with a bench along the back and ends; and at the back of this, again, are two cells with stone-benches. Cave II, has a hall about thirty-four feet square, and its verandah has been supported by two square pillars.

Cave V, is a chaitya or chapel facing south-west, and is of the same style as one of the Junnar caves, but still plainer. It has a semicircular apse at the back and arched roof but no side aisles, and in place of the later arched window over the door it has only a square window. At each side of the entrance is a pilaster, of which the lower portions are destroyed, but which has the Nasik style of capital crowned by three square flat members supporting, the one a wheel or chakra the emblem of the Buddhist doctrine or law, and the other a lion or Simha a cognizance of Buddha himself who is frequently called Shakya Simha. The dome of the relic shrine or daghoba inside is about two-thirds of a circle in section and supports a massive plain capital. The umbrella is hollowed into the roof over it and has been connected with the capital by a stone shaft now broken.

Cave VI, has had a verandah, supported by two plain octagonal pillars with capitals of the Nasik, Kuda and Pal type. The hall is 16' 10" wide by 13' 5" deep with an oblong room at each end, the left room with a bench at the inner end and the right room with a small cell. At the back is a room twelve feet wide by eighteen deep, containing a daghoba nearly seven feet in diameter in the front of which an image of Vithoba has been carved by a mendicant.

Cave XI, is a rectangular chaitya or chapel about fourteen feet wide by 28' 9" long with a flat roof. The daghoba is much destroyed below; its capital is merely a square block supporting the shaft of the umbrella carved on the roof. Cave XVI, is another chapel. The verandah is supported by two perfectly plain square pillars without base or capital; the hall (20' 8" X 11' 4") is lighted by the door and two windows, and has a recess fifteen feet square at the back containing a daghoba similar to that in cave XI, but in better preservation.

Nos. IV, IX and XX, are the largest of the other vihars or dwelling caves, and have all cells with stonebeds in them.

The second group of twenty-two caves begins from the head of the ravine. The first cave is XXIV, a vihar or dwelling cave facing east-north-east 21' wide by 23' deep and 7' 10" high, with a verandah originally supported by two plain square pillars. Carved on the south end wall of the verandah, near the roof, are four small chaityas or horseshoe arches, with a belt of rail-pattern above and below and a fretted torus in the spaces between the arches. Below this the wall has been divided into parcels by small pilasters, which were carved, perhaps, with figures now worn away. On the north wall were three horseshoe arches, the central one being the largest, and apparently contained a daghoba in low relief as at Kondane in Thana. [Compare Bombay Gazetteer, XIV.208-09.] Below this is a long recess as for a bed, now partially fallen into the water-cistern beneath. From the hall four cells open to the right, three to the back, and one to the left, each, except the centre one in the back, with a stone lattice window close to the roof and about 1' 3" square. No. XXIX, originally two caves, of which the dividing wall has been broken through, has similar windows in four cells.

Cave XXX, is a ruined vihar or dwelling cave (36' 6" by 19') with eleven cells round the hall and a twelfth entered from one of these. From this cave about three-quarters of a mile lead to the next excavations, caves XXXI to XXXV, of which are in no way noteworthy. Cave XXXVI, about 100 yards west of cave XXXV consists of an outer hall about 17' by 13' with a cell in each side wall, and through it a second hall (9' 4" X 12' 7" X 6' 9") is entered which has six cells and two bench-bed recesses.

The third series of twenty-two caves is divided into two groups the first facing northwards and the second in a ravine further west and facing westwards. It consists of caves XLII to LXIII, the first five containing nothing of note. Cave XLVII consists of a room (15'X11'X7' 6") with a bench in each end, an unfinished cell at the back, and two at the left end, on the wall of one of which is the only inscription, of which any letters are traceable, recording. 'The meritorious gift of a cave by Sanghamitra, the son of Gopala(?)'. A few indistinct letters are just traceable also on the right hand side of the entrance, and near them is the faintest trace of the Buddhist rail pattern.

Cave XLVIII is a range of five cells with a verandah in front, supported on three square pillars and pilasters, the central cell (27' X 11' 3") containing a relic shrine still entire, the upper edge of the drum and the box of the capital, which has no projecting slabs over it, being carved with the rail-pattern. The umbrella is carved on the roof and attached to the box by a shaft. In front of this, against the right-hand wall, is the only figure sculpture in these caves, and, though much defaced, appears to have consisted of three human figures, the left a man with high turban and front knob, similar to some of the figures at Karle and on the capitals at Bedsa, holding some objects in each hand. He wears a cloth round his neck and another round his loins, which falls down in folds between the legs. His right hand is bent upwards towards his chin, and over the arm hangs a portion of the dress. He also wears armlets and bracelets. To his left a slightly smaller figure appears to be approaching him with some offering. Above this latter is a third, perhaps a woman. At the right end of this excavation is another cell approached from outside. The remaining caves in this group ending with cave LV, are small and uninteresting. The cells are not so frequently with stone-beds as in the caves previously described. From No. LV, about a mile and a half leads to LVI, which has a verandah (25'4"X11'9") with two plain square pillars in front. The hall is about twenty-four feet square with ten cells, three in each side, and four at the back, several of them unfinished. Cave LX is almost chocked with earth, but is 38' long by 13' 10" wide, with a semicircular apse at the extreme end and arched roof similar to the Bedsa dwelling cave II [Compare Bombay Gazetteer, XVIII. Chapter xiv Bedsa.]. Outside and above the front, however, are traces of a horizontal row of chaitya-window ornaments, so that, though there is no apparent trace at present of a chaitya having occupied the apse, the cave may have been a primitive form of Chaitya-cave with structural relic shrine or daghoba.

History.

The first mention of Karad appears in inscriptions of about 200 B.C. to 100 A.D. recording gifts by Karad pilgrims at the Bharhut Stupa near Jabalpur in the Madhya Pradesh and at Kuda thirty miles south of Alibag in Kolaba [Stupa of Bharhut, 135, 136, 139; Arch, Sur. of Western India, IV. 87.]. These inscriptions show that Karad, or, as the inscriptions call it Karahakada, is probably the oldest place in Satara. That the place named is the Satara Karad is confirmed by the sixty-three early Buddhist caves about three miles south-west of Karad one of which has an inscription of about the first century after Christ. [See above.] In 1637 the seventh Bijapur king Mahmud Adil Shah (1626-1656) conferred on Shahaji the father of Shivaji a royal grant for the deshmukhi of twenty-two villages in the district of Karad [Grant Duff's Marathas, Vol. I, 96.]. In 1653 the deshmukhi right was transferred to Baji Ghorpade of Mudhol [Grant Duff's Marathas, Vol. I, 115.]. In 1659, after Afzalkhan's death his wife and son, who were taken by Khanduji Kakde one of Shivaji's officers, were on payment of a large bribe safely conducted and lodged by him in Karad [Grant Duffs Marathas, Vol. I, 136.]. In January 1661 the eighth Bijapur king Ali Adil Shah II, (1656-1672), disappointed in his hopes of crushing Shivaji took the field in person and encamped at Karad where all the district officers assembled to tender him their homage [Grant Duffs Marathas, Vol. I, 143.]. In a revenue statement of about 1790 Karad appears as the head of a paragana in the Rayabag Sarkar with a revenue of Rs. 3,62,550 [Warring's Marathas, 244.]. About 1805 the young Pratinidhi Parashuram Shrinivas fled from Poona to Karad, his Jagir town to escape a plan for seizing him made by Bajirav Peshva assisted by Shinde [Grant Duff's Marathas, Vol. II, 413.]. During his flight, Bajirav stopped at Karad on the 23rd of January 1818. In 1827, Captain Clunes described 'Kurarh' as the chief town and residence of the Pant Pratinidhi with 2,500 houses including 200 weavers, 100 oil-pressers, twenty-five blanket-weavers and thirty paper-makers [Itinerary, 34.].

Modern Developments.

A number of public buildings have cropped up at Karad during recent years as a result of the block development activities. Thus there is the Block Office building with an information centre attached to it, an artificial insemination centre, a training class in poultry keeping, a stadium-cum-gymnasium, a hostel for students coming from the rural areas etc. Besides, there is at Karad the Government Polytechnic School, a Cottage Hospital, a reception centre and a leprosy centre.

Karad has a number of educational institutions. For primary and pre-primary education, there are eight District Local Board primary schools, four private primary schools and three kindergartens. For secondary education there is the Tilak High School and the Kanya Shala of the Shikshan Mandal, the Maharashtra High School of the Maharashtra Education Society and the Shivaji Vidyalaya of the Shivaji Education Society. For higher education Karad has an Arts College viz. the Sadguru Gadge Maharaj College conducted by the Rayat Shikshan Samstha of Karmavir Bhaurav Patil and the newly started Science College. For training of teachers the Kamla Nehru Adhyapika Training Centre has been recently started. The Maharashtra Rashtra Bhasha Vidyalaya, Karad works for the spread of the Hindi language and the Sanskrt Pathshala, Karad trains students in ancient Indian culture.

Karad has a large export trade of groundnuts, gur and turmeric. For credit facilities there are seven banks and two co-operative societies. The Karad Agricultural Produce Market Committee regulates the sale of agricultural produce.

Population.

The population of the town according to 1951 Census was 25,721. Of this the agricultural classes number 5,242 and the non-agricultural classes 20,479. Of the latter, 5,364 persons derive their principal means of livelihood from production other than cultivation; 5,479 persons from commerce; 967 persons from transport; and 8,669 persons from other services and miscellaneous sources.

Municipality.

Constitution.

Karad Borough Municipality established on September 13, 1955, has an area of 0.87 sq. miles and is governed under the Bombay Municipal Boroughs Act, 1925. The municipal council is composed of 24 members. Two seats are reserved for women and two for the Scheduled Castes. Besides the Standing Committee, there are committees for water works, sanitation, building works and library and a sub-committee for compensation. The Chief Officer is the administrative head of the municipality.

Income and Expenditure.

The income of the municipality for the year 1957-58, excluding extraordinary and debt heads, amounted to Rs. 6,62,811; municipal rates and taxes being Rs. 5,45,463; realisations under special acts Rs. 3,521; revenue derived from municipal property and powers apart from taxes Rs. 38,599; grants and contribution Rs. 54,568; and miscellaneous Rs. 20,660. The expenditure for the same year, excluding extraordinary and debt heads, came to Rs. 5,92,530; general administration and collection charges being Rs. 81,615; public safety Rs. 37,572; public health and convenience Rs. 2,31,065; public works Rs. 1,85,176; public instruction Rs. 20,811; contribution for general purposes Rs. 950 and miscellaneous Rs. 35,341.

Water Supply.

Karad town depends for its water supply on Government water works with filtration arrangement. Water is taken up from the Koyna river. There are 74 public stand posts. The municipality purchases water from Government and supplies it on meter to the people. The Karad Water Works project was started in 1918, and improvements were made by constructing an additional reservoir in 1951.

Drainage System.

At present (1958) there are kaccha and stone lined gutters which drain off the waste water in the town. The municipality has started constructing pucca gutters in the town. A scheme for underground drainage system is approved for which plans and estimates are awaited from the Public Health Engineer.

Markets.

The town has one big vegetable and fruit market managed by the municipality. Six open platforms are provided around the main market building. The mutton market has 12 stalls and there are four open platforms in the fish market. The municipality has also reserved one big plot to be utilised for a weekly bazar.

Educational Facilities.

Primary education up to the 4th standard is made compulsory. It is looked after by the District School Board, the municipality paying its annual statutory contribution. The municipal library named Nagar Vachanalaya has a good collection of books. Besides, the municipality pays a grant to the Manoranjan Vachanalaya. A number of private schools, clubs and other institutions receive municipal grants. The municipal play ground is on the bank of the Krshna river.

Medical Facilities.

The municipality runs its own dispensary with a maternity home and two wards for in-door patients and has appointed its own medical officer. The veterinary dispensary is under the control of the District Local Board. The municipality pays an annual grant to this dispensary.

Miscellaneous.

The Municipality maintains two fire fighter lorries. There are one mile, one furlong and 125 yards of asphalted roads, seven miles and 216 yards of metalled roads, and five miles, four furlongs and 285 yards of unmetalled roads in the town. Three burial grounds one each for the Muhammedans, Dawaries and Lingayats are reserved by the municipality. Special arrangements are provided for the cremation of the dead during the monsoon.

The municipal garden viz. Shivaji Udyan has special facilities for children and a radio set. The New Municipal Building constructed at a cost of Rs. 3,25,000 has an open air theatre on its rear side. A portion of the building is used to house the Science College.

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