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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 9, p. 104.

10 P URHĀNPUR TOWN Burhānpur Town.-Head-quarters of the tahsil of the same name, Nimar District, Central Provinces, situated in 210 W N. and 76' WE., on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, 310 miles from Bombay, the station being at Lalbagh, a suburb 2 miles distant from the town and not included in the municipality. The town is surrounded by a masonry wall with massive gates on the main roads, and the Tapti river flows along the southern side. The space contained within the walls is two miles in length from north to south, and half a mile in breadth; but numerous remains outside show that the suburbs must once have been very extensive. The population at the last four enumerations was : (1872) 29,303, (1881) 30,017, (1891) 32,252, and (1901) 33,341, including '21,762 Hindus and 11,253 Muhammadans. Among the Musalmans are a number of Behnas or cotton-cleaners, and there is also a large community of Bohras, a sect of Gujarati merchants. Burhanpur was founded about 1400 by Nasir Khan, the first indepen- dent prince of the Farūki dynasty of Khandesh, and called by him after the famous Shaikh, Burhan-ud-din of Daulatabad. Zainabad on the opposite side of the T apti was founded at the same time, and called after another Shaikh, Zain-ud-din. Burhānpur was the usual residence of all the later Farūki kings, and it was during their rule of two centuries that the two great mosques called the Jama Masjid and the Bib! Masjid were built. In 16oo Burhanpur, with the kingdom of the Farūkis, was annexed by the emperor Akbar. Under Akbar and his successor, Burhanpur was greatly embellished. In the Ain-i-Ahbari it is described as a `large city with many gardens, in some of which is found sandal-wood, inhabited by people of all nations and abounding with handicraftsmen. In the summer the town is covered with dust, and during the rains the streets are full of mud and stone.' Burhanpur formed the seat of government of the Deccan princes of the empire till 1635, when Aurangabad took its place. After this event, Burhanpur became the capital of the large Sūbah of Khandesh, usually governed by a prince of the royal blood. The transfer had not occurred at the time when Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador in 1614 from James I to the Great Mughal, paid his visit to prince Parvez, son of Jahanglr. Forty- four years after Sir Thomas Roe's visit Tavernier described Burhanpur (or as he wrote it, Brampour), through which he then passed for the second time, as `a great city very much ruined, the houses being for the most part thatched with straw.' He adds : `There is also a great castle in the midst of the city, where the governor lives. The government of this province is a very considerable command, only conferred upon the son or uncle of the king. There is a great trade in this city ; and as well in Brampour as over all the Provinces, there is made a prodigious quantity of calicuts, very clear and white, which are transported into Persia, Turkey, and Muscovia, Poland, Arabia, to Grand Cairo, and