Karangarh
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.
Karangarh
Hill, or more properly plateau, in the head-quarters subdivision of Bhagalpur District, Bengal, situated in 25 degree 15' N. and 86° 56' E., near Bhagalpur town, and said to derive its name from Kama, a pious Hindu king. The plateau, which is locally known as the kila or fort, is believed to be the site of one of the famous pre-Buddhist forts in Bengal : the lines of several bastions and the ditch in the west can still he traced. In more modern times it contained the lines of the Hill Rangers, a body of troops raised in 1780 from among the hill people by Augustus Clevland, Collector of the District, for the paci- fication of the lawless jungle tribes. The corps was disbanded in 1863 on the reorganization of the Native army. The only objects of interest are Saiva temples of some celebrity. These consist of four buildings {maths), with square bases and the usual pointed pinnacles. One is several hundred years old, the others being modern. Numbers of Hin- dus, though not usually worshippers of Siva, pay their devotions here on the last day of the month of Kartik. The temples contain several of the so-called seats of Mahadeo or Siva, one of which is made of stone from the Narbada. There are also two monuments erected to the memory of Clevland— one by Government, and the other by the landholders of the District. The Bidyasagar Memorial Sanskrit tol occupies a fine building in the fort compound.
