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PLACES
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MASUR
Masur (Karad T; 17° 20' N, 74° 10' E; RS; p. 5,814) in Karad
is a village lying on the left bank of a stream at the junction of the Karad-Targanv and Umbraj-Pandharpur roads four miles east of
Umbraj and eight miles north of Karad. The village obtains a copious water-supply from the stream on which it lies. The surrounding land is most of it excellent black soil with unusual facilities for irrigation by water-lifts and small dams yielding some of the best wheat crops in the Karad taluka. The village has one main street running west to east with an open space at the west end which serves for a market. To the north of this market was a large building with the remains of a wall about twenty feet high with corner bastions. The walls enclosed a space of about two acres and contained a large mansion in the local style with a two-storeyed building in the east, a quadrangle in the middle centre, and stabling in the west. This was formerly the head-quarters office of the Targanv sub-division which reached as far west as Helvak. Before this Masur was a mud fort under the Pratinidhi, and in 1806 the Pant Pratinidhi Parashuram Shrinivas was confined here, shut up by the last Peshva Bajirav and his mother who was backed up by Balvantrav Phadnis, the Mutalik or deputy. Bapu Gokhale was sent to enforce submission, and for a time the country was quiet, but shortly afterwards Tai Telin an oilwoman, mistress of the Pratinidhi collected a force in Vasota, descended on Masur, carried it, and released the Pratinidhi. But Gokhale came back and succeeded in taking the Pratinidhi prisoner. [Grant Duff's Marathas, Vol. II, 414-15.]
At present nothing remains of the old mud fort, not even the traces of its walls. A two-storeyed primary school constructed recently under the Block Development Scheme occupies some of the open space, where the fort stood once. The activities carried out in the Community Development Blocks were: construction of a school building and a gymnasium, running a tailoring class and a veterinary stockman centre and payment of loan to backward class housing societies amounting to Rs. 750.
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