Kandi Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Kandi Town
Head-quarters of the subdivision of the same name in Murshidabad District, Bengal, situated in 23 degree 58' N. and 88° 3' E., near the Mor river. Population (1901), 12,037. Kandi owes much of its importance to the fact that it is the residence of the Rajas 01 Paikpara, a wealthy and devout Hindu family. The founder of this family was Ganga Gobind Singh, a banian of Warren Hastings, who was born at Kandi, and retired thither in his old age with an immense fortune, which he devoted to the erection of shrines and images of Krishna. His name has acquired a traditional celebrity for the most magnificent sraddka or funeral obsequies ever performed in Bengal, costing 20 lakhs, in honour of his mother. Kandi was constituted a municipality in 1869. The income and expenditure during the decade ending 1 901-2 averaged Rs. 7,000. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 9,000, mainly from a tax on persons ; and the expenditure was Rs. 8,000. The town contains the usual public offices, a sub-jail with accommodation for 24 prisoners, and a dispensary with 24 beds. The latter is maintained from the proceeds of an endowment fund, now amounting to 1.59 lakhs, left by the late Kumar Giris Chandra Sinha of Paikpara, and is the best-equipped hospital in the District.
