124
GAGHATA BAKSHI KHAL
lecting tolls was leased out for the five years ending March, 1901, at
an annual rental of Rs. 4,500, and the lease has since been renewed
for another five years on the same terms. The expenditure in 1903-4
amounted to Rs. 538 and the receipts to Rs. 2,300.
Gajapatinagaram.-Tahsil in Vizagapatam District, Madras, lying
near the Ghats, between 18° 11′ and 18° 30′ N. and 83° 3′ and 83°
32′ E., with an area of 333 square miles. The population in 1901 was
134,553, compared with 124,057 in 1891. The tahsil contains 228 vil-
lages, the head-quarters being at the village of the same name. The
demand for land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 was Rs. r4,6oo.
Gajendragarh.-Town in the Ron tdluka of Dharwar District,
Bombay, situated in 15° 44′ N. and 75° 58′ E., 51 miles south-east of
Kaladgi. Population (1901), 8,853. The town contains five schools,
including one for girls.
Galna.-Fort in the Malegaon tdluka of Nasik District, Bombay,
situated in 20° 46′ N. and 74° 32′ E. It is built on a circular detached
hill, with fairly flat top affording an area of 20 or 3o acres. The top
is 2,316 feet above mean sea-level, or about Boo feet above the plain,
and is accessible only by a broad flight of steps cut into the northern
face. These steps cross the hill from east to west, and then, reversing
the line, climb again to the eastward, and pass under four gateways.
The upper walls are perfect and contain magazines of various sizes in
each of the bastions, which are semicircles and must have commander)
the approach in every direction on the south and west, while the face
of the hill being almost perpendicular for nearly i,ooo feet below the
wall, the lines are as straight as the outlines of the rock allow, and have
been defended by large wall pieces, which were moved on iron pivots;
many of these may still be seen on the round bastions at every 8o or loo
yards on the west and north faces. The south side of the hill is
a bare scarp for many feet from the wall; and, at about two-thirds of
the length from the east, there is a bastion in which are arches of Sara-
cenic form, between the central two of which was a slab containing a
Persian inscription dated 1569. There was a second slab in a niche
between the battlements, fronting the north and surmounting a row of
cellars furnished with moderate-sized windows and probably intended
for residences. This slab contained a Devanagari inscription dated
n. D. 1580. Other antiquities include the idols of Galneshwar Mahadeo,
five cisterns, a series of rock-cut caves, and a handsome mosque. Close
to the mosque are the ruins of a palace called the Rang Mahal or
`pleasure palace.' The view from Galna is magnificent.
Galna was an important place from the end of the fifteenth century,
being held alternately by Musalmans and Marathas. In 1634 Muham-
mad Khan, the Musalman commandant of Galna, intended to deliver the
fort to Shahji, who had possessed himself of Nasik, Trimbak, Sangam-
|
![[Digital South Asia Library]](/graphics/thirdlevel.gif)
