Shahpura 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.
Shahpura Town
Capital of the chiefship of the same name in Rajputana, founded about 1629 by Sujan Singh, the first chief of Shahpura, and named after the emperor Shah Jahan. It is situated in 25 38' N. and 74 56' E., about 19 miles by unmetalled road east of Sareri station on the Rajputana-Malwa Railway, and 60 miles south- by-south-east of Ajmer city. Population (1901), 8,974. The town is surrounded by a wall having four gates, and possesses a combined post and telegraph office ; a jail with accommodation for 29 prisoners ; an Anglo-vernacular school, with boarding-house attached, at which the daily average attendance in 1904-5 was 50 ; a couple of primary schools attended by 129 boys and 20 girls; and a hospital with accommodation for 20 in-patients.
Outside the walls and close to the Kund gate stands the Ramdwara or monastery of the Ramsanehi sect of mendicants, Thib sect is said to have been founded about 150 yeais ago by one Ram Charan Das, and the mahant or high priest resides here. The Ramsanehis (or * lovers of Rani ') have no belief in the worship of idols, and their chief tenet is the repeating of the name Ram. They shave the head, moustache, and beard completely, and usually cover their bodies with an ochre-coloured sheet, though some do not wear more than a simple loin-cloth at any season. They live by begging and do not marry, but adopt chelds or disciples from the Brahman, Rajput, and Mahajan castes.
