Sultanpur Village, Maharashtra
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.
Sultanpur Village
Village in the Shahada taluka of West Khan- desh District, Bombay, situated in 21° 38' N. and 74° 35' E., about 10 miles north of Shahada, on the site of a ruined city with an old fort and walls enclosing about a square mile. Population (1901), 340. Its present name is said to date from 1306, when Malik Kafur, on his way to conquer the Deccan, stopped here for some time. It was included in Gujarat till, in 1370, it was taken by Malik Raja (1370-99), the first Faruki king of Khandesh. Muzaffar, the Gujarat king, hastened to recover it, and Malik Raja was forced to retire to Thalner. In 141 7 the joint forces of Malik Nasir of Khandesh (1399- 143 7) and Ghazni Khan of Malwa invested Sultanpur, but retired on the advance of the Gujarat army. In 1536, according to a promise made while a prisoner, Muhammad III made over Sultanpur and Nandurbar to Mubarak Khan Faruki of Khandesh. Under Akbar (1600) Sultanpur was a mahdl of the sarkdr of Nazurbar or Nandurbar. The local story of the destruction of Sultanpur is that Jaswant Rao Holkar, escaping from Poona, formed an alliance with the Bhils, and plundered such of the people as would not acknowledge him as their ruler. Lakshman Rao Desai, the chief man of Sultanpur, refused a demand for money ; but Holkar, receiving an offer from another resident, with his Bhil allies, entered the town, and won over the garrison. The Bhils were let loose, the town was laid waste, and except one man all the people fled. The state of the place, deserted but not decayed, and with clearly marked roads, avenues, and gardens, supports the truth of this story. Besides the fort, originally an intricate building of mud faced with brick, there are the remains of a great mosque known as the
Jama Masjid, of no particular merit, and now, like the other ruins, dismantled to supply building materials for the neighbouring villages. Outside the village is a ruined temple of Mahadeo. Opposite the usual camping ground is a small well-preserved temple built by Ahalya Bai Holkar, regent of Indore. To the east of the village a garden, from 250 to 300 yards square, is enclosed by a brick-faced mud wall 3 feet thick, and entered by a striking brick gateway 30 feet high. The most interesting ruin is the mansion of Lakshman Rao Desai, once a hand- some house, with a well-watered garden.
