Samana
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.
Samana
Town in the Bhawanigarh tahsil> Karmgarh nizamat^ Patiala State, Punjab, situated in 30 9' N, and 76 15' E., 17 miles south-west of Patiala town, with which it is connected by a metalled road. Population (1901), 10,209. It is a well-built town, with many handsome houses. Samana is a place of considerable antiquity, and tradition ascribes its foundation to the fugitives of the Samanid dynasty of Persia, on the site of a still older Naranjan Khera or Ratangarh.
Frequently mentioned in the Muhammadan historians as a fief of Delhi, it surrendered, with Sarsuti, Kuhram, and Hansi, to Muhammad of Ghor after his defeat of Prithwl Raj in 1192, and became an apanage of Kutb-ud-dln Aibak. Under Muhammad bin Tughlak we read that the tribes round Samana, driven to despair by his exactions, fled to the woods. But under the beneficent rule of Firoz Shah III the tract recovered its prosperity, and became the scene of important events in subsequent reigns.
Under Jahangir it possessed a thriving colony of weavers who supplied the emperor with fine cloth, and whose descen- dants still own part of the town l . Banda Bairagi sacked the place in 1708. It has now few manufactures, but contains an Anglo-vernacular middle school, a police station, and a dispensary.
