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PLACES
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KAYAR.
Kayar is a village of 998 inhabitants on the Vidarbha river in Wani tahsil, lying 19.31 km (12 miles) south of Wani with which it is connected by a good road. It is chiefly remarkable for its springs. Several slightly warm mineral springs rise in a piece of waste land about half a mile from the village, unite, and flow along a channel which varies from ten to thirty yards in breadth, and extends for over 400 yards. Crocodiles are sometimes noticed in this water. The channel ends with a masonry dam which was laid between 1875 and 1880. It is regularly kept in repairs and irrigates about 300 acres of land. Recently the storage capacity of the dam has been increased bringing more area under irrigation though exact figure is not available. The stream has never been known to fail and by proper repairs could be made to irrigate a few hundred acres more. A short distance above the masonry dam, the stream passes through a breach in an old bund some hundreds of yards in length which must have formed a tank at one time. The ruins of massive and extensive fortifications known as the killa occupy the bank of the stream opposite to this old bund. There is also another tank not connected with the stream mentioned. It is used for watering cattle and dries up in the hot weather. There are Hemadpanti shrines at the place where the springs issue from the ground and also near the tank. The springs are associated with certain rishis or holy men. Recently two inscribed stone slabs in Brahmi characters and reportedly belonging to the second century A.D. were discovered here by Dr. Deshpande, the founder of an institute conducting research in ancient Indian History. Kayar used to be the headquarters of a pargana. The village has a medical dispensary, a post office and a primary school. A weekly market is held on Thursdays. There is also a sub-centre of the veterinary dispensary.
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