Madhi
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.
Madhi
Place of pilgrimage in the Shevgaon Taluka of Ahmadnagar District, Bombay, situated in 19^ 9' N. and 75^ iG' E., 16 miles south- west of Shevgaon and 3 miles south-west of Pathardi, with a shrine or dargdh of a Musalman-Hindu saint, Shah Ramzan Mahi Savar or Kanhoba. Population (lyoi), 844. The shrine is held in great reverence by both Hindus and Musalmans, and the chief buildings, which are on a small hill, were built by Hindu kings and chiefs. Two domed buildings, where the ancestors of the present Inamdar and Mujavar are buried, were built in 1730 by Pilajl Gaikwar, whose name and that of his minister Chimnaji Savant are engraved in front of the shrine. On the south-east corner is a domed building called the Baradarl, with open windows looking down on the village of Madhi below. This was built in 1731 by Raja Sahu (1708-49), the grandson of Sivajl, in fulfilment of a vow taken by his mother. Close to Sahu's building, and almost at the entrance of the dargdh, is a lofty drum- house or nagarkhana,witha flat roof reached by a narrow staircase and commanding a very wide view. This handsome building was raised about 1780 by Kanhoji Naik, a rich landed proprietor of Basini in the Nizam's Dominions. There are two resthouses for pilgrims built by Salabal Khan H, the famous minister of the fourth Nizam Shahi king, Murtaza Nizam Shah (1565-88). The enclosure of the dargdh has two handsome gates, one built by More, a Maratha chief at the I'eshwa's court, and the other about 1750 by Khwaja Sharif, a great Khoja merchant of Ahmadnagar. Close to this gate is a recently repaired mosque.
Shah Ramzan Mahi Savar, or Kanhoba as he is generall)- called b}' Hindus, is said to have come to Paithan about 1350 (a. h. 752), where he was converted to Islam by one Sadat All. After travelling six years he came to Madhi in 1380 (a.h. 782), and died there in 1390 (a.ii. 792) at the age of ninety years. The saint is said to have exercised miraculous powers, and his Musalman name is derived from his having crossed the Godavari mounted on a large fish, Mahi Savar. A yearly fair is held at the shrine on the dark half of Phalgun (March-A[)ril), which is attended by twenty to thirty thousand pilgrim.s, both Hindus and Musalmans.
